Dubai Hospital is urgently in need of donors for 25 children who face a lifetime of dialysis unless they undergo kidney transplants.

A further 100 patients, aged between one day and 14 years old, are currently undergoing treatment for various stages of renal failure at the hospital, which is run by the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services.

Head of Paediatrics, Dr Mazen Abou-Chaaben, said the hospital has the facilities to perform the transplant operations but there is a serious shortage of willing donors.

"We have the facilities required for transplant procedures such as an immunology laboratory, urologists, transplant surgeons, nephrologists and effective post operative care," he said. "We are the only paediatric and nephrology centre of its kind in the UAE. But what we lack are the donors."

He observed there is a lack of awareness among the public about the implications of organ transplants.

"People have to understand that this sort of operation is fine from the religious perspective for an Islamic nation and has the full support of the government."

There are two types of organ transplants – one is from a person who has died and the other is live-donor surgery. "Human beings have two kidneys, but in healthy people, one can perform all the functions," Dr Abou-Chaaben explained.

"So parents can donate to their children, along with their siblings and first cousins. It is safe for them to do so and more people have to come forward."

Dr Abou-Chaaben said the current donor response only covers less than 10 per cent of the demand, and added that in extreme cases people have resorted to the illegal practice of buying organs abroad and having the operation there.

"It is not right for people to buy kidneys from poor people who sell their organs for the money," he said. "If we have enough donors, this kind of malpractice can be stopped.

"The transplant programmes in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are more successful because of the widespread awareness among the public. We, too, can be self-sufficient if the public cooperates."

He added that everybody over the age of 21 in the UAE is eligible to be an organ donor as they are considered to be independent decision makers after this age. He explained that currently 25 children need a kidney transplant at the hospital as they are in the third stage of renal malfunction.

"There are four stages of chronic renal failure. In the early phase, patients can continue with their lives and there are no obvious problems," explained Dr Abou-Chaaben.

He said the second stage requires the patient to be put on medication and is accompanied by symptoms such as anaemia, exhaustion, loss of appetite, growth retardation and general feeling of malaise.

The third phase requires the patient to be put on replacement therapy or regular dialysis, which helps remove impurities from the blood which are present due to malfunctioning kidneys.

"The fourth or final phase means that the patient's condition is untreatable and they need to undergo transplant. This stage is followed by euraemia in which toxins in the blood have a debilitating effect on the other vital organs, such as the brain," noted Dr Abou-Chaaben.

"We try and keep children in the second stage with medication, because of the lack of donors. Their quality of life is better if they are put on dialysis in the third phase of treatment, but we have little choice."

He said the number of children suffering from renal failure in the UAE is high and cited consanguineous marriages as one of the main reasons.

"Marriage between close relatives can lead to hereditary diseases which affect the kidneys. Also, medical treatment has advanced so much that babies who would previously have died at birth now survive.

"These children have suffered a lack of oxygen supply and other types of trauma at birth, or have very weak internal systems, and also tend to suffer from kidney problems," he added.