Kuwait to host 'Organ Transplant' meeting

Kuwait to host 'Organ Transplant' meeting

Published Date: October 23, 2007
By Nancy Oteifa, Staff writer

KUWAIT: Mustafa Al-Mousawi President of the Middle East Society for Organ Transplant (MESOT), Chairman of the Organ Transplant Center in Kuwait and Vice-president of the Kuwait Transplant Society held a press conference to speak on the Third World Day for Organ Donation and Transplant which will be held on Oct 28 in the Salwa Al-Sabah Hall under the patronage of Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah.

Al-Mousawi, Chairman of the organizing committee held the press conference at the Hamed Al-Essa Organ Transplant Center. Speaking to the press he said, "Because there is a large number of patients who need organ transplants all over the world and because this number is increasing rapidly, the need for organ donations has increased too leading to a shortage in organs. People without medical ethics took advantage of this shortage and started a business known as 'organ trafficking.' This takes place in many c
ountries especially in developing countries such as China, Pakistan, the Philippines as well as some Arab and Islamic countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other associations that care and are concerned about medical ethics, in an attempt to fight this illegal trading of organs, decided to dedicate a day for organ donations and transplants.

This day was established by The Fairtransplant Foundation, headed by Philippe Morel, Professor of Transplant Surgery in Geneva, Switzerland in association with WHO. The First World Day for Organ Donation and Transplant took place in October 2005 in Geneva, Switzerland and has since then become an annual event. In 2006 it was held in Argentina and this year 2007, Kuwait is the host country, representing the Middle East and at this year's event, we will only concentrate on problems and concerns over organ d
onations and transplants in the Middle East and focus on finding solutions. Organ transplants cannot be achieved without donors, who can either be alive or even decerebrated (having lost all cerebral functions) or brain dead. Live donors are permitted to donate only a select few organs while most of the organs can be taken from a dead person. One dead donor can help in curing the ailments of up to 40 patients," he added.

He continued, saying, "The most commonly transplanted organ is the kidney from living donors and only a few select countries have active deceased donor transplants. Shortage of dead donors has also affected the average number of kidney transplants being performed which is about 15 per million people as compared to 27 in Europe and 52 in the US. Most patients requiring liver, heart and other extra-renal organ transplants either die or travel to Europe or North America for life-saving transplants. The aim of
in hosting this day is to promote organ donations and access to organ transplants in a transparent, safe and non-profit way and to study the problems facing this science. Guests attending the seminar will arrive from the Middle East, USA, Europe and Africa. The program would include scientific panel discussions with our regional and international guests and the first seminar will be on Organ Donation and Transplants as a Global Perspective. We will be introduced to the European Experience, the American Ex
perience (North and South), Asian Experience and the African Experience.

There will be seminars entitled, 'Organ Donation and Transplants in the Middle East,' 'Concentrating on the Current Situation and Special Problems,' and 'How to Increase Donations from Deceased Donors,' because we lag far behind the US and Europe in this aspect. We will also focus on the religious and cultural issues as well as the 'Transplant Tourism,' issue and how to dissuade people from illegally trading in organs and how to stop countries who specialize in selling organs. Another seminar will be enti
tled, 'Increase of Public Awareness on Organ Donation through Public Media,' and finally a seminar on 'Organ Donation in School Curricula,' highlighting how important organ donations in our society is in helping more patients to live. In Kuwait we transplant around 100 kidneys a year, which is equivalent to 45 kidneys for every million. Worldwide Kuwait ranks sixth in kidney transplants for every million people. Kidney transplants from live people is risky and very painful which is why we prefer transplant
ing kidneys from dead persons," he added.

Although kidney transplants are the major organ transplants done in Kuwait, we also carry out other transplants such as skin, the cornea (eyes), but we do not specialize in liver, lungs and heart transplants and these patients are sent outside Kuwait for treatment. The problem is that some patients do not want to wait long for transplants so they travel to other countries to buy the organs, but sometimes these organs are infected with some diseases which can eventually lead to the transplanted patient's
death. "As part of the event there will also be a GCC committee meeting for organ transplants and we also plan to hold the 'Second Middle East Transplant Games.' In this three-day event, hundreds of patients who have undergone transplant surgeries from 14 countries will compete for medals in various games. There will also be a workshop by "The Donor Action Foundation" where ICU doctors can learn more about organ donation and transplants and how to face and deal with difficulties that they tend to face with
the patients. It has been arranged in coordination with people from all over the world," he concluded.

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