The patients with Stone Disease (all types of kidney stones), prostate problems (elderly), urinary obstruction or blood in urine, infertility/impotence (erectile dysfunction), renal failure or needing transplantation, children with urinary tract disorders or birth defects, females with [...]]]>

Apollo Medical Centre will present super specialty consultancy services from Apollo Hospitals Group, India on May 14 and 15.

The patients with Stone Disease (all types of kidney stones), prostate problems (elderly), urinary obstruction or blood in urine, infertility/impotence (erectile dysfunction), renal failure or needing transplantation, children with urinary tract disorders or birth defects, females with urinay infections or urinary incontinence, all types of tumours (cancers) of kidney and urinary tract and all patients treated at Apollo Hyderabad can meet the visiting doctors for follow-up and advice.

The patients who consult and are operated by Dr Rajagopal can access him in Apollo Health City, Hyderabad , demonstrating the benefits of using technology for the service of humanity.

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The conference discussed the latest diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to treat renal failure in transplanted kidney cases.

Minister of Health Rida Saeed said that the Syrian Ministry of Health adopted preventive health policies to reduce the [...]]]>

The 11th Congress of the Arab Society of Nephrology and Renal Transplantation was opened at Dedeman Hotel in Damascus on Wednesday.

The conference discussed the latest diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to treat renal failure in transplanted kidney cases.

Minister of Health Rida Saeed said that the Syrian Ministry of Health adopted preventive health policies to reduce the spread of genetic blood diseases and other types which contribute to increasing the number of renal failure patients.

President of the Syrian Society of Nephrology and Transplantation Ahmad Ojjeh pointed out that the conference includes specialized workshops on vascular accesses for patients with artificial kidney, nephropathology and tissue profiling.

More than 500 specialists and doctors from 15 Arab and foreign countries including Egypt, the USA, Spain, France, the UK, Austria, Qatar, Lebanon are joining the conference organized by Arab and the Syrian Society for Renal Transplantation in cooperation with Syrian Ministry of Health and Doctors’ Syndicate.

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SKMC said the patient, a Pakistani girl who was operated upon in the first quarter of 2010, had an uneventful hospital stay and the clinical outcome was judged excellent. She was [...]]]>

The Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) has succeeded in performing the first kidney transplant on a child in the UAE, according to the medical institution.

SKMC said the patient, a Pakistani girl who was operated upon in the first quarter of 2010, had an uneventful hospital stay and the clinical outcome was judged excellent. She was discharged from SKMC 10 days after the surgery. The five-year-old received the organ from her uncle, 40.

The renal transplantation programme was started in February 2007 and was created under the guidance of Abu Dhabi Health Services (Seha) and Cleveland Clinic.

Saif Bader Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Seha, accompanied by top officials, visited the child and her mother 10 days after the surgery to check on her recovery and commented favorably on the importance of organ donation, and how special donors are saving lives.

The officials said that this historic surgery has had a tremendous impact on the life of this child – she will now live, play and enjoy her life just like any other child.

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There are more than 3,000 dialysis machines in 177 dialysis units, including 30 in private health clinics and [...]]]>

Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah announced Monday that applications for setting up new dialysis units in private hospitals should go through a high committee appointed by the minister before they get formal approval for license from his ministry.

There are more than 3,000 dialysis machines in 177 dialysis units, including 30 in private health clinics and hospitals, throughout the Kingdom. The minister had made the announcement according to Chapter 4, Article 15 of the executive regulations laid out for the private health institutions.

The minister said that new dialysis units would be licensed only if they comply with the technical requirements of the new committee. The committee will comprise nephrologists from Prince Salman Center for Kidney Diseases, the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation (SCOT) and officials from the Department of Medical Licenses at the provincial health directorates, among others.

Al-Rabeeah said the committee would ensure that the new units would fulfill the requirements of the Ministry of Health, which is keen on providing quality health care. It is anticipated that the new units will ease the congestion of renal failure patients in public hospitals.

Around 36.5 percent of renal failure cases in the Kingdom were caused by increase in blood sugar levels or diabetes.

According to Al-Rabeeah, the government has been spending more than SR1.5 billion annually on the treatment of kidney patients. The number of renal failure patients in the Kingdom would increase from 11,000 to 15,000 by 2015, he said. About 500 million people around the world suffer from kidney diseases. “These figures emphasize the need for enlightening the public on kidney diseases,” the minister said.

Al-Rabeeah said the national program for comprehensive health care, which was presented to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah last September, would bring about a major shift in health-care services in the Kingdom, establishing the principle of equality and justice and improving the quality of service. He emphasized his ministry’s efforts to improve services at centers for the treatment of renal-failure patients.

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Dr. Alexander Yusim, head of the Renal Transplantation Unit and Nephrology Institute at Beilinson, said “Blood type indicators are antibodies found on red blood cells and on the internal lining of blood vessels, and they attack a foreign blood [...]]]>

Beilinson Hospital performed the country’s first kidney transplant involving a donor and recipient with different blood types.

Dr. Alexander Yusim, head of the Renal Transplantation Unit and Nephrology Institute at Beilinson, said “Blood type indicators are antibodies found on red blood cells and on the internal lining of blood vessels, and they attack a foreign blood type that enters the body.”

The method for neutralizing the antibodies takes at least two weeks, making it impossible to use for patients who need a new kidney immediately.

The procedure is based on technology developed a decade ago in Japan, where organs are rarely transplanted from dead bodies due to restrictions of the ancient Japanese Shinto religion. Western doctors, particularly in the United States, Germany and Sweden, subsequently began using the method.

“First the recipient’s blood is transferred into a machine that executes a blood plasma fractionation, a method whereby blood is broken up into red blood cells that are later re-inserted into the body and the blood serum which contains the antibodies that are removed from the body,” he said.

In the next stage, the patient is injected with a chemical preparation known as rituximab, which neutralizes B white blood cells that manufacture new antibodies. Doctors can implant the organ from a donor with a different blood type after the process is repeated three or four times and the number of antibodies falls to zero or nearly zero.

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The 50 year old patient, Abdul Ameer (Quality Surveyor), suffered from [...]]]>

The first successful positive cross match (PXM)-desensitization living donor kidney transplantation was performed lately at Sheikh Khalifa Medical city (SKMC), managed by Cleveland Clinic, a SEHA healthsystem facility. Since the Multi-organ Transplantation program at SKMC commenced in February 2008, 21 kidney transplants have been performed.

The 50 year old patient, Abdul Ameer (Quality Surveyor), suffered from kidney failure for the last three years and had been on hemodialysis since then at SKMC in Abu Dhabi. He has lived in Abu Dhabi for the past 15 years. He has struggled with being on hemodialysis as there was no transplant program at the time his kidneys failed. His 36 year old wife stepped in and offered her kidney. She said, “He is my life partner, and I want to spend more time with him. I didn’t think twice and offered him my kidney.”They then visited their home country, India, to get the kidney transplant done.

However, when they did the matching tests, they found out that the husband had antibodies against his wife which meant that if his wife’s kidney had been transplanted, it would have been rejected right away. Thus, he was told that the operation could not be done in India and then he came back to Abu Dhabi.Months later, while he was on dialysis at SKMC, he was informed about the opening of the multi-organ transplantation program at SKMC and that he could be a good candidate for a kidney transplant. The required tests were done in June 2009 by a multidisciplinary team who also confirmed that he had antibodies against his wife but informed him that his wife was still an appropriate donor.

However, at SKMC, the transplant team had instituted specific and complex procedures that could remove the antibodies from the patient’s blood. Dr. Abrar Khan, Senior Consultant and Director, Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, stated that “We arranged a series of tests for them to make sure both were fit for transplantation and donation.

He visits the multi-organ transplantation clinic regularly for his monthly follow-up visits. He said, “We are very pleased with the service we were offered; and the professionalism and dedication of the transplant team at SKMC. I would like to thank first the leader of the UAE, H.H. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, H.H. Sheikh Mohamad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for their leadership and generosity and the government of the UAE for the latest developments that we are all witnessing especially in the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi.

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Announcing the formation of the new committee, Deputy Health Minister, Yacoub Al Mazrou, secretary general of the Medical Services Council told Arab News that the new body [...]]]>

A committee for the development of organ transplantation in the Kingdom was formed on Wedneday by the Health Ministry under the direction of the minister, Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah.

Announcing the formation of the new committee, Deputy Health Minister, Yacoub Al Mazrou, secretary general of the Medical Services Council told Arab News that the new body would develop future plans, procedures, regulations and rules regarding the organ transplant program undertaken by the Saudi government. The organ transplantation services of the government are carried out through the Saudi Center For Organ Transplantation, (SCOT) which is headquartered in Riyadh.

Al Mazrou said that the members of the committee would include nephrologists and specialists in organ transplantation from the SCOT and from hospitals such as the National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital, Security Forces Hospital, King Saud University and the Ministry of Health.

The Kidney Transplant organization, which later became SCOT, was formed in Riyadh in 1985 on an initiative from Riyadh Gov.or Prince Salman to help people who were in need of organ transplantation. “It aims to serve humanity by ending the suffering of those with end-stage organ failure by providing viable organs in a manner that is not only beneficial to the patient, but also to donor families, the health care professional and the members of the public.”

The board of the Saudi Council Of Religious Scholars has unanimously agreed on the permissibility of removing an organ, or a part thereof from a living person and grafting it should there be no risk in the removal and should the transplantation seem likely to be successful.

From time to time, SCOT calls for organ donors to help patients who have reached the end stage of their disease due to organ failure. SCOT identifies two types of donors — cadaveric donors and living donors. Cadaveric donations are harvested from people immediately after their deaths. Organs such as corneas, heart, liver, lungs, intestines, pancreas, kidneys are cadaveric donations. A senior health official said that there were hundreds of patients suffering due to organ failure and SCOT has standard application forms for people who are willing to donate their organs after death. “Share your life and be an organ donor” is the motto of the center.

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