24-yr-old Emirati donates kidney to save brother
dubai — A 24-year-old Emirati woman was able to give one of her kidneys to her brother, thanks to a landmark six-hour surgery conducted by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) earlier this month. It was the DHA’s first organ transplant where a living donor is involved.
The operation was a success — so much so that the transplanted kidney started functioning normally in the first 24 hours and, after a short recovery period, the siblings got back to their normal lives.
Prior to the operation, the woman’s 27-year-old brother, Khalid Waleed Al Marzouq, had to visit the hospital three times a week for dialysis since 2016. He was suffering from kidney failure caused by an autoimmune disease.
“Seeing my brother go through dialysis three times a week was painful. I am grateful to the DHA doctors who made me feel comfortable in taking this step to save my brother’s life,” said Aysha, the donor and sister of the patient.
Both Aysha and Khalid shared their story at a Press conference organised by the DHA on Tuesday to announce the details of the transplant. Khalid felt a whole lot better after the procedure, he said. In fact, he is now looking forward to “getting on with life and starting a job soon”.
“My health situation was really deteriorating, I used to get tired quickly. I am really thankful for my sister because my mental and physical health is much better than before,” he said.
A total of 25 doctors, specialists and nurses carried out the surgery at the DHA’s Dubai Hospital. The team was under the supervision of Dr Yasser Ahmad Al Saeedi, consultant urologist and robotic surgeon; Dr Andrea Risaliti, consultant, general surgeon and chairman of organ transplant committee at the DHA; and Dr Zaid Abdul Aziz, general surgery consultant and head of the bariatric unit at the Dubai Hospital.
Dr Al Saeedi led his team in removing the healthy kidney from the donor using a laparoscopic method. This means the surgery
required minimal incisions: It took only four 1cm cuts, with one being enlarged to 10cm for the kidney to be removed. The Dubai Hospital became the first hospital to conduct this laparoscopic donor nephrectomy in the UAE.
“The minimally invasive operation is the internationally preferred procedure for kidney removal in living donors because it offers quick recovery, less pain, and a shorter hospital stay,” Dr Al Saeedi explained.