(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Doha: The Hamad Medical Corporation's organ transplant programme which has shown 100 percent success rate in kidney transplant over five years is set to expand and begin lung and pancreas transplants soon.
Preparations are underway to perform the first lung transplantation in Qatar within weeks, said Medical Director of Hamad General Hospital and Director of Qatar Center for Organ Transplantation, Dr. Yousef Al Maslamani, indicating that a heart transplant plan will start soon.
'Soon we will start the lung transplant programme, everything is ready. In about few weeks, we will probably perform the first lung transplant, said Dr. Al Maslamani, speaking in Al Jazeera Mubasher's 'Ma' Al Hakim (With Doctor) programme.
'The infrastructure is not available for heart transplantation. But we will start the process this year and we expect that by next year we will have the first heart transplant, he added.
Dr. Al Maslamani also said that the waiting list for pancreas transplantation has been prepared and indicated that the first transplant will be performed soon.
An organ transplant can be a life-saving procedure. It can also significantly improve the quality of life for someone with chronic organ failure. A deceased organ donor can save up to eight lives. It is also possible to donate a kidney or part of the liver while alive. Currently, Qatar offers kidney and liver transplantation programmes.
A heart and lung transplant is a major operation to replace a person's diseased heart and lungs with those from a donor. It is offered to people with both heart and lung failure when all other treatment options have failed. A pancreas transplant is an organ transplant that involves implanting a healthy pancreas into a person who usually has diabetes. In 2019, 31 kidney transplants and 9 liver transplants were conducted in Qatar.
'For us this is a very big development in relation to population and culture of the community, said Dr. Al Maslamani.
According to Dr. Al Maslamani, due to the COVID-19 pandemic organ transplant operations were not held from March 2020 to September 2020. But three to four transplantation operations were conducted in November and December 2020.
'At present, 1500 people are on dialysis and among them 75 are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. This 75 people have completed all necessary procedures for the operation, said Dr. Al Maslamani.
He also mentioned that 10 people are on the waiting list for liver transplant. Since the Qatar Organ Donor Registry was launched in 2012, more than 440,000 donors have signed up to become an organ donor. 'This is a large number, and this indicates that people are starting to realize the importance of organ donation, said Dr. Al Maslamani.
The organ donor registry is a national, confidential list of individuals who have agreed to donate their organs after their death. It can be quickly accessed in the event of a death to see whether an individual has registered their willingness to be an organ donor. Qatar has a single waiting list for organ transplantation with unbiased access to transplant services, irrespective of nationality.
MENAFN21022021000063011010ID1101634120
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.