Yucatán Among Mexico’s Top 6 States for Organ Transplants

YUCATÁN, Mexico — The state of Yucatán achieved a rate of 30.2 solid organ transplants per million inhabitants in 2024, surpassing the national average of 23.2 and positioning itself among the six leading states in the country, according to data from the National Transplant Center (Cenatra).

The information was released in commemoration of the National Day of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation, observed every September 26. The Yucatán Ministry of Health (SSY) and the Yucatán State Transplant Center (Ceetry) have stated their objective is to promote a culture of solidarity donation.

A Record of Solidarity and Growth

In June 2025, within the framework of World Transplant Patient Day, Yucatán was ranked among the five entities in the country with the greatest culture of donation and equitable access to transplants.

Furthermore, Cenatra indicated that only in the first year of the current state government—from October 2024 to the present—117 organ and tissue transplants were performed, granting a new opportunity at life to dozens of families.

The director of Ceetry, Jorge Martínez Ulloa Torres, stated that the rate of donation after brain death, considered the primary indicator of social solidarity, rose in Yucatán to 4.7 per million inhabitants, above the 3.01 registered in the same period of the previous administration.

"Donating organs is giving life. In Yucatán, we continue building a more humane, solidary, and healthy future for everyone," he affirmed in an interview.

Martínez Ulloa highlighted the strengthening of transplant infrastructure and programs in the state, as well as the formation of university committees that promote the culture of donation among youth.

Strategic Alliances and Specialized Resources

He specified that Yucatán has also consolidated strategic alliances, such as the one established with the Bone and Tissue Bank of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, which allows for the provision of processed bone tissue free of charge to vulnerable patients.

The state also boasts the only cornea bank in the southeast of the country, which guarantees quality tissue and sends material to other entities so that more people can regain their sight.

Ceetry maintains a support program for low-income patients who have lost their social security, providing them with free immunosuppressive medications to guarantee the viability of the grafts.

Finally, the head of Ceetry made a call to all of Yucatecan society to join this cause: "A single decision can change the destiny of many lives."

Culture of Donation and National Standing

In June 2025, within the framework of World Transplant Patient Day, Yucatán was ranked among the five entities in the country with the greatest culture of donation and equitable access to transplants, guaranteeing follow-up in the evolution of people undergoing these types of operations, including those who lost their social security due to official or personal circumstances, informed Judith Ortega Canto, head of the Yucatán Ministry of Health (SSY).

The official reported that the state occupies fifth place nationally in the rate of renal transplants, with 8.2 procedures per million inhabitants, above states like Coahuila and Guanajuato.

She explained that 15 registered cadaveric donations were also performed: 4 after brain death and 11 after cardiac arrest.

In general terms, Mexico City, Jalisco, and Nuevo León are the states leading organ transplantation in the first trimester of 2025, according to reports from the federal Ministry of Health.

Ortega Canto revealed that, in Yucatán, through the State Transplant Center of Yucatán (Ceetry), 19 renal transplants were carried out in the period from January to March 2025, with 53 percent from cadaveric donors, above the national average of 35 percent, and 47 percent from living donors.

The official indicated, at the time, that these figures (from January to March 2025) place Yucatán in fourth place nationally in donation after brain death, with 1.7 donors per million inhabitants, superior to the national average of 0.9.

From these donations, the following have been procured: 10 kidneys, one liver, 29 corneas—eight from brain death and 21 from cardiac arrest; one bone tissue was sent to Nuevo León, and two kidneys were received from Cancún, Quintana Roo.