A 10-year-old Qatar resident has successfully received a kidney from her uncle in the first such procedure to be conducted on a child in the country, Hamad Medical Corp. officials have announced.

Ala’a’s procedure, which was conducted earlier this month, took six months of preparation and involved a multi-disciplinary team that included surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, lab specialists and intensive care clinicians, HMC said in a statement.

She and her uncle Badr were released from the hospital five days after the surgery and are recovering well, it added.

The surgery marked the opening of a pediatric kidney transplant program in Qatar, Dr. Mohamed al-Janahi, HMC Pediatric Department chairman, said. 

“The successful launch of this program will make it easier for the families of sick children to have them treated locally, in addition to the easy post-operative care and follow-up we can offer,” he said.

Organ donation

Kidney transplants were first performed on adults in Qatar in 1986. Meanwhile, HMC also developed a liver transplant program for the first time this year.

Despite a drive to increase the number of donors here, the country still has a long waitlist of those in need of organs.

Those awaiting transplants include some 120 out of 500 people with kidney failure and 14 patients in need of new livers.

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Credit: Photo courtesy of Gulf Times