Four lives saved through organ donation in UAE

Abu Dhabi - In 2016, the UAE Government passed a law that allows organ transplants from deceased patients.

A UAE resident, who passed away on October 19, was able to save four lives including that of a nine-year-old girl, through organ donation.
The organs of the deceased were received by patients from various backgrounds and age groups.
The heart and liver of the deceased were donated to two patients in Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD), one kidney went to a patient at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), while the other kidney went to nine-year-old Bana Nizar Hassan - the youngest child in the UAE to receive a kidney transplant, which took place in Al Jalila Children's Specialty Hospital, by a joint medical team from Al Jalila Children's and Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Science (MBRU).
Dr Mohammad Badar Zaman, head of the transplantation service at SKMC, told Khaleej Times that in the last month alone, the hospital has completed eight kidney transplants.
In 2016, the UAE Government passed a law that allows organ transplants from deceased patients, which Dr Zaman said, has already helped save dozens of lives.
"The recent patient, (Idicula Varghese), was one of the four beneficiaries who received organs from one deceased donor.
"The donor was able to save four lives, by donating the heart, liver and two kidneys given to patients in critical situations."
Dr Zaman said two operations were conducted on October 19, the first on the donor, which took around five hours, where multiple teams were involved in extracting the organs, while the second took around three hours - implanting the organ into the recipient.
"It took around 12-15 hours to complete the work. There were huge logistics involved, the heart and the liver had to go somewhere, while the kidneys went somewhere else." He pointed out that other critical logistics included emergency cross-matching.
The medical teams immediately looked at the blood groups of the patients on the waiting list, and it was the children who "get preference".
"There is a standardised international way of allocation of organs and we have adopted the same."
He added that one donor can save up to eight people.
"The need of organ donation is humongous. There are more than 2,000 people in Abu Dhabi on dialysis and the best treatment for them is kidney transplantation."
Dr Zaman stressed that for most families that have a member with kidney failure, there is a will to come forward and donate, but it is not applicable in every family, which is why live donation is not always possible.
He said the unidentified donor who was able to save four lives after passing away, changed the lives not only of the patients, but for their families also. "I have my life back"
Idicula Varghese, one of the kidney recipients, spoke to Khaleej Times about how he was suffering from kidney failure and pain for years, until receiving the call that he and his family had been waiting for.
"I am feeling really good now. I have my life back," said the electrical supervisor, who moved to the UAE from Kerala, India, 18 years ago.
The 47-year-old, who lives in Al Ain, said he was on dialysis for two years. "We all feel so happy and relieved now, including my two daughters aged six and eight years," said his wife Molly Chacko.
"When he was on dialysis, we were facing a lot of difficulties. It is mentally and physically draining," she added.
She pointed out that her husband was facing issues with his kidney for 15 years, but the family only came to know about his condition four years ago. "We are so happy now, we feel that he is back to life," she added.
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com

Kidney transplantation on the rise
Since 2008, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) has done 255 kidney transplants - 248 kidney transplants from living donors, and seven from deceased donors, which went to Emiratis and expats.
Dr Mohammad Badar Zaman, head of the transplantation service at SKMC, said kidney transplantation is on the rise since the passing of the law allowing organ donation from the deceased, adding that SKMC completed eight transplants in just one month.
The transplant team at SKMC consists of more than 30 experts, and the success rate of the surgeries is between 95 and 98 per cent in the first year after the transplant and 85 per cent after five years of the surgery. In general, kidney transplant extends the life expectancy of the patient to 10-12 years.
The operation is more cost efficient than dialysis, which costs around Dh250,000 per year, while kidney transplant costs the same amount, and the follow-up costs around Dh30,000 a year