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UAE to expand organ transplants to include face, hand, uterus, intestine
The Hayat programme's future plans also include expanding tissue donation to corneas, bones, skin and heart valves, along with donation after circulatory death
- PUBLISHED: Thu 13 Aug 2026, 2:15 PM UPDATED: Thu 13 Aug 2026, 6:46 PM
The UAE plans to expand its organ transplant programme to include procedures involving the face, hands, arms, uterus and intestine, as part of the next phase of the country’s transplant services.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention said future plans under the National Programme for Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues, known as Hayat, include widening the types of organs and tissues that can be donated and transplanted.
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Among the planned procedures are intestine and uterus transplants, as well as what are known as vascularised composite tissue transplants. These can involve complex body parts such as the face, hands and arms.
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The expansion would take the UAE’s transplant programme into highly specialised areas that require several medical teams and careful coordination before, during and after surgery.
Tissue donation planned
The Hayat programme also plans to expand tissue donation to include corneas, bones, skin and heart valves.
Another area being developed is donation after circulatory death, or DCD. This refers to organ donation after a person’s heart and blood circulation have permanently stopped.
The Ministry said that expanding these pathways could help increase the availability of organs and tissues for patients who need life-saving or life-changing treatment.
The plans form part of wider efforts to strengthen organ donation within the UAE healthcare system.
From human organs to manufactured ones
The UAE is also preparing for a future where a transplant may not always come from another person. The latest Ministry of Health and Prevention announcement said the country is continuing to develop the regulatory framework for non-human organs and tissues. This includes animal organs, as well as organs made using 3D bioprinting, tissue engineering and other advanced technologies.
This follows changes to the UAE’s organ transplant law and a public consultation reported by Khaleej Times in July on how non-human organs and tissues should be regulated. Amendments issued in December 2025 expanded the law to cover animal and manufactured organs.
Under the amended law, their use is subject to licensing, clinical and laboratory testing to confirm safety and effectiveness, checks for biological compatibility with the patient, and written consent from the patient or their legal representative.
A national database is also planned to record information about non-human organs used for transplantation, including their source, the biological composition of manufactured organs, clinical-trial results and safety and effectiveness data.
Some of the UAE’s future plans involve procedures that are already being carried out in other countries, including hand and upper-limb transplants.
How is a hand transplant done?
A hand transplant is much more complicated than simply attaching a donor hand. According to details on NHS England’s official website, “several different types of tissue are transplanted together from a deceased donor to replace a missing or badly damaged hand or arm. These can include bone, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, nerves and skin.”
Before surgery, the patient goes through detailed medical and psychological checks. Doctors also have to find a suitable deceased donor and carry out compatibility tests before the transplant can go ahead.
“During the operation, surgeons reconnect the donor limb to the patient’s body. This involves joining the structures needed for blood flow, movement and feeling,” stated in the website.
According to NHS England, a transplanted hand can gradually regain movement, strength and sensation with specialist treatment and rehabilitation.
The surgery can take many hours. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the UK’s hand and upper-limb transplant service, mentioned that the procedure usually takes between eight and 16 hours, depending on whether one or two limbs are being transplanted and where the transplant is carried out.
Patients usually remain in hospital for two to four weeks after the operation.
Recovery continues long after they leave hospital. Patients need medicines to stop their immune system from rejecting the transplanted hand. They also go through long periods of physiotherapy and rehabilitation to learn how to use the hand and improve its movement and function.
What happens in a face transplant?
A face transplant also involves transplanting several different types of tissue at the same time. The UK’s Human Tissue Authority states that such procedures can involve skin, bone, muscles, blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue. The face and limbs are among the body parts that can be transplanted in this way.
This means a face transplant is very different from transplanting a single organ such as a kidney. Several types of tissue need to survive and work together after surgery.
Blood vessels need to supply the transplanted tissue, while nerves have to recover over time to help restore movement and feeling. Patients also need regular medical checks and medicines to reduce the risk of rejection.
MoHAP has not said how face or hand transplants would be carried out in the UAE. These procedures have only been listed as future priorities under the Hayat programme.
Uterus and intestine transplants also planned
The UAE’s future transplant plans also include the uterus and intestine. MoHAP said the country plans to expand the types of transplant services available as part of the next stage of the Hayat programme. Tissue donation could also be widened to include corneas, bones, skin and heart valves.
Another planned area is donation after circulatory death, known as DCD. This is when organ donation is considered after a person’s heart has stopped and blood circulation has permanently ended, under the required medical and legal safeguards.
The Ministry also plans to set up specialised organ donation units inside hospitals. These units would have trained doctors and nurses who could identify possible donors, support their families and help coordinate the donation process.
What about organs from animals?
The UAE is also updating its transplant rules to cover non-human organs and tissues, including animal organs. The latest MoHAP announcement said the legal framework is being developed to set requirements for licensing, clinical and laboratory testing, biological safety, compatibility with patients and informed consent.
Internationally, the practice of transplanting living cells, tissues or organs from animals into humans is known as xenotransplantation. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, such procedures require careful testing because the human immune system may recognise the animal tissue or organ as foreign and reject it.
The FDA also highlights the risk of infections passing from animals to humans. Because of this, source animals used for xenotransplantation need to be carefully raised, tested and monitored for diseases, while patients who receive such transplants require continued medical follow-up.
In the UAE, the amended law requires animal organs to be removed for transplantation only with the required licence from MoHAP or the relevant health authority. Clinical and laboratory tests must also assess their safety and effectiveness, while specialist doctors must check biological compatibility with the patient.
Doctors are also required to explain the possible health effects and risks to the patient or their legal representative before obtaining written consent.
The UAE has not announced which animal organs could eventually be used in patients or when such transplants could begin. For now, the focus is on putting the legal and medical framework in place for the possible future use of non-human organs and tissues.
SM Ayaz Zakir is a Senior Correspondent with a flair for extraordinary stories. His playground? Every corner of the UAE. He often ventures into remote corners of the country to capture compelling news and human interest stories.