Fire victims treated in Zurich with skin from Dutch donors
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Fire victims treated in Zurich with skin from Dutch donors
Hospitals in Zurich have received 9.3 square metres of donated skin from the Netherlands to treat victims of the fire in Crans-Montana.
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The skins of deceased donors were transported to Zurich University Hospital in three consignments. Fortunately, the Swiss customs authorities were very cooperative, said a spokesman for the Haarlem-based human tissue bank ETB-BISLIFE.
The donated skins are used temporarily on the bodies of burn victims to prevent infection of their wounds and promote healing. Eventually, they are replaced by permanent skin grafts, most of which come from the patient’s own epidermis.
Zurich called on the Dutch bank for the first time in the early afternoon of New Year’s Day. That same evening, the first 20,000cm2 (two square metres) of skin were sent by post and arrived overnight. The following Friday, 52,000cm2 were dispatched, followed by 21,000cm2 on the following Monday.
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The Dutch bank also delivered skin to Leipzig in Germany, where three Swiss victims of the Crans-Montana fire are in hospital. Further shipments of skin to Switzerland are not currently scheduled. “We can expect further deliveries in the next two to three weeks, depending on the progress of the treatments,” said the ETB-BISLIFE spokesman.
In Switzerland, skin is not removed from deceased people who have agreed to donate their organs, according to Franz Immer, director of the Swisstransplant Foundation.
Adapted from French by AI/ts
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