3 UAE hospitals gear up for cadaver transplants
dubai — Three medical centres in the UAE are ready to begin organ transplants, following the recent announcement of regulations that allow for cadaver transplants in the country.
The centres finalised for transplants are Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Mohammed Bin Rashid University in collaboration with Mediclinic.
Dr Ali Abdul Kareem Al Obaidli, chairman of the UAE National Transplant Committee, told Khaleej Times that kidneys will be the first to be transplanted. “The new transplant law is in place and in the coming days, the required details and protocols will follow in a stepwise fashion,” he said.
“The other types of organ transplants are more demanding and require additional preparations and collaborations between stakeholders.
“Transplant programmes start in phases. Earlier, we only had the option of having a kidney from a live donor. Now we will have cadaveric kidney transplant, so it’s an ongoing process,” he added.
dubai — The first transplant to be done in the UAE after the recent regulations that allow for a cadaver transplant would be a kidney. Kidney transplantation is the highest performed transplant among other types of organ transplants worldwide.
“The new transplant law is in place and in the coming days, the required details and protocols will be finalised through a formal communication,” said Dr Ali AbdulKareem Al Obaidli, chairman of the UAE National Transplant Committee, in an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times.
“The UAE is planning to do kidney transplants and also pave the way for other types of organ transplants in a stepwise fashion ... The other types of organ transplants are more demanding and require additional preparations and collaborations between stakeholders,” he said.
Dr Ali said that transplant of organs such as liver, lungs or heart could take time before it happens in the country, depending on the level of preparedness of the setups and the beginning of the cadaveric programme.
Three centres across the UAE have been finalised for transplants: Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Mohammed bin Rashid University in collaboration with Mediclinic.
“Transplant programmes start in phases. Earlier, we only had the option of having a kidney from a live donor. Now we will have cadaveric kidney transplant, so it’s an ongoing process,” he explained.
Potential recipients
Dr Ali said that in essence, all patients on dialysis were potential recipients. “Those who have kidney failures and are about to start dialysis are potential recipients of a kidney transplant unless they have a medical condition that prevents them from receiving a transplant.”
However, there are no exact numbers of how many people are on dialysis and require a transplant.
“If we start a federal registry for all patients on dialysis in the country and establish a close collaboration between dialysis units and transplant centres, then we can track how many people can be potential recipients,” said Dr Ali.
The proposed transplant centres already have a list of prospective transplant patients. However, the list of potential recipients is currently small.
“Because there was no transplant programme earlier, there was no reason for many people to get ready and be listed. Effectively, there are only smaller numbers who are fully ready but with time, this list will grow,” said Dr Ali.
Explaining how the process will work, he said that those people who
Transplant programmes start in phases. Earlier, we only had the option of having a kidney from a live donor. Now we will have cadaveric kidney transplant, so it’s an ongoing process.” Dr Ali AbdulKareem Al Obaidli, chairman of the UAE National Transplant Committee
need a kidney transplant will communicate with these three transplant centres through their kidney specialists taking care of them. “Effectively, nephrologists working at dialysis units and renal departments can refer their patients to transplant centres.”
Donor representation
A survey done in the UAE last year showed that 68 per cent of those surveyed said they would willingly donate after their death, which reflects a strong culture of donation that exists among people living in the UAE.
For the general public who would like to become potential donors, Dr Ali said that a suitable process to register to become a potential donor was being prepared.
The committee is now preparing a national registry model based on experiences of other countries and will announce the details when prepared.
“The deceased’s donation wish from the public list could be very simple process … It could be a talk during a family dinner table saying that in case of my death, if my organ were useful to others then I want to donate my organs and contribute to save the lives of others,” he said.
He added that usually families respect the decision of their loved one who made a wish before dying.
“Even before the donor registry is formalised, when people have this dialogue, they are expressing their willingness to contribute and their support to all patients who suffer from organ failure,” he added.
“We have a strong medical infrastructure in UAE and we have strong medical teams. We have three transplant centres and they have all the expertise to initiate a strong programme,” he said.