HMC Performs Qatar's 4th Liver Transplant Surgery

Doha, July 16 (QNA) - Hamad General Hospital's Organ Donation Center has successfully performed the fourth liver transplant operation in Qatar by a surgical team was led by Dr. Hatem Khalaf, liver and pancreas transplant senior consultant surgeon and elected chairman of the Arab Liver Transplantation Society. The liver was donated by a 33-year-old Sri Lankan national and the recipient was a 49-year-old Egyptian patient who had been suffering from liver failure due to Hepatitis C. Noting that the surgery lasted six hours and was performed without complications, Dr. Khalaf said the liver transplant recipient spent two days in the ICU before being discharged from hospital ten days after surgery. Dr. Abdulla Al Ansari, consultant surgeon and Hamad Medical Corporation's chairman of surgery, said the transplantation program at HMC is continuing to grow and improve and that preparations are being made to launch a liver transplantation program for living donors. "Since its establishment, HMC's liver transplantation program has been witnessing great improvement. The launch of the Qatar Organ Donation Center (Hibah) and the support shown by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser with her registering as an organ donor, led to a significant increase in the number of registered donors," said Dr. Al Ansari. Dr. Yousef Al Maslamani, consultant and head of the Organ Transplantation Department at HMC, said organ transplant surgeries are being performed under the Doha Donation Accord. "If the donor is deceased we would provide social support for the family and cover the cost of repatriation, among other things. We want to honor our donors, as they have given this precious gift to someone who desperately needed it," said Dr. Al Maslamani. (QNA)