Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) recently carried out kidney transfer and transplant from a deceased donor to a 23-year-old Abu Dhabi patient.

The kidney transfer and transplant were accomplished successfully and the female patient, who suffered kidney failure for 16 years, is improving daily, a statement said.

The organ is functioning normally and she is no longer on dialysis, it added.

Dr Ali Abdulkareem al-Obaidli, chief clinical officer at Seha, explained that the patient Latifa Sai'ed, born and raised in the UAE, suffered from a rare syndrome that resulted in kidney failure at the age of seven. She had been on dialysis for 16 years ever since and endured multiple problems and issues common to long term dialysis patients such as blood clots, inflammations and painful procedures such as cathertization.

SKMC received word that a young man had lost his life in a traffic accident in Saudi Arabia, and that his family had decided immediately to donate his organs to help save the lives of those needing organ transplants who might be a tissue match to their son.

The UAE is a signatory to the Organ Transplantation Agreement between GCC countries. The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties and the Saudi Centre for Organ Transplantation put out the word on the organs that would become available.

Tests showed that Latifa was a near perfect match for the organ and arrangements were made to harvest the organ and rush it from Saudi to the UAE by jet.

Led by Dr Ammar Abdulbaki and Dr Mohammed Badar Zaman, head of Transplantation and Hepatobiliary at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, as well as Dr Basheer Sankari, organ transplantation consultant and chief of Surgery department at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, a medical team of specialists was assembled that included a support team of transplant coordinators, attending physicians, specialist nurses and technicians.

Saif Bader Al Qubaisi, chairman of Seha, said: “The expansion and success of the renal transplant program is another step to create a full service public health care system that is equal to the best systems in the world.

“As this program expands and more organs become available it becomes possible to treat patients who need kidney transplants within the state without them having to travel abroad to seek treatments. This reduces their suffering by letting them stay in the country with their families, receive the social support needed and facilitate their regular medical appointments with doctors in order to follow up closely on their condition."

Dr Ali Abdulkareem al-Obaidli, chairman of the National Organ Transplantation Committee and member of the Gulf Organ Transplantation Committee said, "This cooperation falls under the umbrella of the Organ Transplantation Agreement between GCC member countries.

“And in this context, I would like to thank the Saudi Council of Health Services and The Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation, as well as all the relevant authorities in the UAE for facilitating all logistic operations related to transferring the kidney and delivering it in time to the patient in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City. I too extend my thanks to the generous family who made this donation and saved this girl’s life.”

Sheikh Khalifa Medical City has conducted 75 kidney transplants, all from living related donors in the past. Amongst them there were 7 children, the youngest being 4 years old, while the oldest 64 years old.  This was the first transplant ever from a deceased donor, the statement said. – TradeArabia News Service