(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) An Abu Dhabi-based hospital, which conducted 10 organ transplants since the launch of the transplant programme in 2017, has many patients eagerly waiting on its donor list, Khaleej Times has learned.
The organ transplants conducted at the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD) include the first lung and heart transplants in the country, as well as eight other transplants of liver and kidneys.
Dr Fadi Hamed, a pulmonologist and critical care physician, who heads the intensive care unit (ICU) at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD), told Khaleej Times that there are a number of patients waiting to finally receive what he said is "the most important call of their life."
"Once you're active on the waiting list, you're always telephone-ready and on alert. It is one of the most important calls they will ever get in life. Waiting to hear the words: 'We have allocated organ for you'."
The process of listing someone on an organ transplant waiting list can take between three to six months. He added that those on the current list include three patients waiting for a lung transplant.
"Every organ has its own waiting list, there are always people on the waiting list and an influx of patients to be on the waiting list."
Dr Hamed added that the patients who were on the waiting list in the past used to travel abroad to have their surgeries done.
"Now those patients are getting their transplants locally, close to their families and without the need to travel."
Dr Bashir Sankari, head of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi's transplant programme and chief of the Surgical Sub-specialties Institute, said the hospital is ready to complete more transplant surgeries every year, depending on demand and availability of donors.
"Our aim in boosting the number of organ transplant surgeries is to improve patients' lives and their quality of life."
Dr Hamed said organs are extremely time sensitive, and every organ has its limited time frame, from the second it is removed from the donor.
He stressed that the time frame is anywhere between four to six hours, to place the new organ in the new recipient.
"This is a time sensitive factor that actually affects the outcome of the surgery and the long-term survival of the organ."
Dr Hamed said doctors and patients are always on high alert waiting for an organ.
"For heart and lung transplants, it depends on the donor that has been brain-dead, which can happen today, tomorrow or next month.
"We are always on a high alert, waiting for a lung or heart transplant to happen."
He pointed out that the patients are always ready to receive a call for an organ and it is rare for doctors to encounter issues reaching the recipient during the time-sensitive moment, when the heart or lung organ has been made available.
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