Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Health Services Department Hospitals, affiliated to the Ministry of Defense, have so far carried out a total of 4,555 organ transplant operations. This is through 11 organ transplant programs, supervised by these hospitals, according to a report.

The transplant operations included 3,664 kidney transplants, 118 heart transplants, 480 liver transplants, and 293 marrow and stem cells transplants. The kidney transplant program was first launched in Prince Sultan Military Medical City in Riyadh in 1979. This was the first kidney transplant program in the Kingdom, and it was a success.

The Health Services Hospitals under the ministry expanded the kidney transplantation program, with launching five kidney transplant programs in the Armed Forces Hospital in the South, King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital in Jeddah, King Salman Armed Forces Hospital in the North, and the Armed Forces Hospital in Al-Hada.

A major feature of these programs is preemptive kidney transplant. More than 2,000 dialysis patients have undergone this type of transplant in over 13 dialysis units of military hospitals affiliated to the Health Services of the Ministry of Defense.

In addition to the kidney transplant program, the Health Services Department has developed other organ transplant programs, including the establishment of Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Center in 1981, which was specialized in performing marrow and stem cell transplants for blood diseases and tumors affecting lymphatic system, in addition to launching the heart transplant program at the Prince Sultan Cardiac Center, and the liver transplant program at Prince Sultan Military Medical City in 1990.

It is noteworthy that these operations were carried out through the combined efforts of all participating medical teams and the air medical evacuation wing of the Health Services under the Ministry of Defense. This was the outcome of the remarkable coordination between the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation and the Executive Committee for Organ Transplantation at the Health Services Department under the Ministry of Defense.