Dubai: The newly opened kidney transplant clinic at Dubai Hospital will accept only voluntary donations from living relatives for transplants as of now, doctors told XPRESS.
Dr Farhad Kheradmand Aljanahi, specialist urologist and transplant surgeon said volunteer screenings had begun and they found five pairs of potential donors and recipients suitable for transplants so far. “We have seen more than 20 pairs since we opened. Patients have to be referred to us and donors have to be living family members. The donors must be fit and healthy.”
But unlike countries where non-relative and cadaver donations are accepted, will finding the right matches within limited family pools be a challenge in Dubai? Dr Aljanahi said: “It can be a challenge. Worldwide, one out of eight screenings is found to be suitable on an average. If the right donors cannot be found in a patient’s family and there is a potential donor from outside, they may be considered in special cases and circumstances. A thorough assessment will be done to ensure they are under no obligation to donate.”
He said organ transplants in the UAE are governed by Federal Law No. 15 of 1993. He said cadaver donations from brain-dead donors or patients who have died of cardiac arrest are currently not an option at the Dubai clinic.
Till recently, the National Transplant Centre in Abu Dhabi’s Shaikh Khalifa Medical Centre was the only authorised transplant centre in the country.
