AS MANY people reacted with heartbreak to the plight of a young liver and kidney sufferer, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said all his department could do was wait

Motsoaledi was commenting after Sowetan yesterday reported on four-year-old Reabetswe Mogwere, of Dobsonville in Soweto, who suffers from a rare condition called primary hyperoxaluria - a liver and kidney disease.

The disease occurs in one to three people in a million.

As a result of the condition, Reabetswe's damaged kidneys have not been functioning for almost a year. He has been on dialysis every day of his life.

Reabetswe is currently on the Red Cross Children Hospital's organ donor waiting list in Cape Town.

The story was met with a positive response from members of the public.

"Organ donation among the African community has always been a problem. As Africans we find it hard to donate our organs," Motsoaledi said. "The boy needs a double transplant, which is a very difficult process."

Motsoaledi said he was heartbroken by the story. "As the department we wish to help the family in the best possible way, but unfortunately all we have to do is wait for the matching organs to be available."

Meanwhile, Sowetan was inundated with calls from the public asking for bank and contact details of the boy's unemployed father, Tibatso Mogwere.

Mogwere, a single father, pleaded with the public for "pocket money and groceries" since he was compelled to look after the boy 24 hours a day. He said members of the public have been calling him and asking for ways to help the ailing boy.