UAE | Health
Sharjah hospital performs first child renal transplant
The UAE had its first paediatric kidney transplant, performed on a 12-year-old Pakistani boy suffering from a genetic disorder that causes kidney failure, the health ministry announced on Saturday.
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 21:21 March 1, 2008
- This is a welcome step towards our strategy of launching medical specialties and surgeries, such as organ transplants, says Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, Health Minister.
- Image Credit: Gulf News archive
Dubai: The UAE had its first paediatric kidney transplant, performed on a 12-year-old Pakistani boy suffering from a genetic disorder that causes kidney failure, the health ministry announced on Saturday.
Nabeel Kamran, who suffers from Alport Syndrome, an inherited kidney inflammation, had his great-aunt's kidney transplanted in him on Friday by a team comprising specialists from Welcare Hospital, a transplant surgeon from the UK and support staff from Al Qasimi Hospital, which is run by the health ministry.
He is now in recuperating from the surgery at the Al Qasimi Hospital's intensive care unit.
Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, Health Minister, told the press the surgery also marked the launch of a new renal transplant programme for children and adults. "This is a welcome step towards our strategy of launching medical specialties and surgeries, such as organ transplants."
He added the hospital was planning five more surgeries to be performed by the same team, with the first one happening tomorrow on a 25-year-old Emirati.
With the establishment of the programme, kidney failure patients can now go to the Al Qasimi Hospital for medical treatment as well as transplants. Dr Ameen Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary at the ministry and chairman of the hospital board, said it also meant UAE nationals would no longer need to go overseas for the procedure, minimising their health risks.
As for Nabeel's father, Kamran Qureshi, the surgery and transplant programme could not have happened at a better time.
"I'm happy that the surgery finally happened. We had been waiting for two to three months," he said.
Pre-emptive action
He told Gulf News his family considered going back to Pakistan when Nabeel started showing symptoms last year, but they decided against it when their nephrologist at Welcare Hospital told them they had options in the UAE.
Dr Saeed Salim Al Shaikh, head gastroenterologist at Welcare Hospital who helped organise the surgery, told Gulf News the transplant was done before the boy developing kidney failure, which comes with its own set of complications.
"It was a pre-emptive transplant. He was on the verge of needing dialysis," he said, adding it was a matter of putting together the same team who was responsible for liver and kidney transplants at Zayed Military Hospital last year.
Organ donation: Wedding anniversary gift
Stumped for a Valentine's Day gift for her husband, Indian teacher Fatima Baig Mirza got a brain wave: she will donate a kidney to her husband, whose kidneys have failed.
Valentine's Day came and went, but she is still intent on donating her kidney to her husband, Mohammad Abdul Hadi, who has been undergoing dialysis for a year-and-a-half.
Now, the mother-of-two wants it to make their silver wedding anniversary gift. "I have to do it. I have been married to him for 25 years and when you have been married for so long, you cannot imagine living without him," she said.
Luckily, she and her husband had the same blood type and a 25 per cent tissue match. But convincing 49-year-old Abdul Hadi to accept her kidney was another issue.
He told Gulf News it took her six months to win him over. "When she suggested it, I refused at first because it is enough that there is one patient in the family. But her moral support for me and the doctor helped convince me the risk was worth it," he added.
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