New attitudes towards organ donation will support more transplants in UAE

Changing attitudes towards organ donation in the UAE will enable more patients to benefit from life-changing operations in 2020, according to senior physicians at the UAE’s first and only multi-organ transplant centre at the Arab Health Exhibition.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of the Mubadala healthcare network, has performed 74 transplant operations since conducting its first procedure in 2017. This has included heart, lung and liver transplants, live related liver transplants (where people share a portion of their liver with a relative), and kidney transplants.

During the “Year of Tolerance” in 2019, a growing number of residents indicated their willingness to donate organs in the event of their death, to help other people suffering from serious illnesses.

"As people see the positive impact that organ transplants have had on the health of the community, attitudes towards donation have shifted significantly. This generosity of spirit has helped supported the growth of the nationwide organ donation programme," says Dr. Bashir Sankari, chief of the Surgical Subspecialties Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

In the two years since performing its first heart transplant operation, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has now performed 39 kidney transplants, 23 liver transplants, seven heart transplants and five lung transplants.

The team’s expertise has enabled them to perform multiple transplant operations in a single week, ensuring that patients can receive the surgery they urgently required as soon as a viable organ becomes available.

"Each organ transplant is a very significant operation, involving a wide range of caregivers at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and other partner hospitals in the UAE, as well as health authorities, transport services and a number of other key actors," explains Dr. Sankari. "That we are now able to conduct multiple operations in the space of a week, using the organs of one or multiple donors, is a positive measure of how far the programme has come in recent years."

The majority of kidney and liver transplants performed at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi are from living-related donors. Since 2017, 23 kidneys have been donated by living relatives as well as 11 living related donation, transforming the lives of the recipients without the need to wait for a deceased donor organ to become available.

However, despite growing numbers of registered organ donors, the demand for organ transplant in Abu Dhabi is even more.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi continues to work closely with the Ministry of Health and Prevention and the Abu Dhabi Department of Health to support the UAE’s organ donation register. There are a number of initiatives in development for 2020 to help raise awareness of the importance of organ donation.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is the UAE’s only multi-organ transplant centre. Before patients enter the transplant programme, they work with transplant coordinators, dieticians, social workers and psychologists to ensure they are ready for their surgeries.

WAM