In a historic milestone for the health sector in the UAE, an Emirati man recently became the first person to undergo a liver transplant procedure in the country.
Mohammed Al Kuthairi underwent the life-saving surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, explaining to The National that he would be dead if it weren't for the operation.
"I was a few minutes away from being dead," the 60-year-old Emirati told The National.
"I couldn’t even get out of bed."
Al Kuthairi was suffering from liver cirrhosis and failure.
The procedure was carried out by a five-person team of medical and surgical professionals on February 1. However, more than 30 staff members were present during the surgery.
The donor liver was retrieved from Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Ajman before being taken to the Cleveland Clinic.
An air ambulance was provided by the UAE National Transplant Committee to make the transporting of the organ as quick as possible.
"A tremendous achievement for Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole"
A transplant surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr Antonio Pinna, has conducted more than 1,200 liver transplant surgeries, according to The National.
"Liver transplantation is a very complex procedure and the surgery itself is only part of the story – there is a whole team who works on the preparation, management of the operation, transportation of the organ and the long-term treatment of the patient," he said.
"This multidisciplinary approach will provide the foundation for the UAE’s transplant program," he added.
The Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is the "first and only multi-organ transplant facility in the country"
On Tuesday, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi announced its surgeons had successfully carried out various transplant procedures - including lung, heart, kidney, and liver - making it the first multi-organ transplant program in the country.
Up until this month, only kidney transplants were being performed at the Cleveland Clinic. On February 11, a "deceased donor provided a lung to a 53-year-old Emirati man afflicted by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," according to Gulf News.
The Sheikh Khalifa Medical City is the only other hospital, other than the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, to offer transplant procedures in Abu Dhabi.
Sheikh Abdullah Al Hamed, chairman of the Department of Health, expressed pride in the "medical milestones achieved in the country" in recent years.
"This progress shows just how far the UAE has come in providing advanced medical services which enable patients to receive the very best care at home," he said, according to The National.
He went on to add that cultivating a "robust culture of organ donation" should be the next step.
In 2016, the UAE legalized organ transplantation
In 2016, the UAE passed a federal decree legalizing transplantation from both the living and deceased, a push forward in healthcare governance in the country.
Under Federal Decree No. 4, residents of the UAE can legally donate certain organs (heart, lungs, kidneys to name a few) and tissues (bones, cornea, heart valves, etc...).
For living donors, it is "restricted to relatives within the fourth degree and couples married for at least two years."
The law prohibits the "sale" of human organs and tissues, bans unlicensed advertising of transplants as well as funding transplantation if the organs are sold.
A person caught making money off organs faces a fine, and possibly prison time.
A national survey conducted by the Mohammad bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) revealed that nearly 68 percent of respondents said they were ready to donate their organs if they were brain-dead.
The UAE is not the first Gulf country to legalize organ donation; Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain have done the same in recent years.