The National Centre for the Promotion of Organ Transplantation (CNPTO) has resumed kidney transplant operations from a living donor in all public health establishments approved by the Ministry of Health, including Hedi Chaker and Habib Bourguiba hospitals in Sfax, Fatouma Bourguiba hospital in Monastir, Sahloul hospital in Sousse, the military hospital in Tunis, Charles Nicole hospital in Tunis and Rabta hospital in Tunis.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of Health reported that 20 kidney transplants had been performed in these facilities since early 2019 until April 25, highlighting that during this period, six liver transplants were also performed at Mongi Slim Hospital in La Marsa (for adults) and Fatouma Bourguiba Hospital (for children), according to the statement.
Besides, a liver transplant was successfully performed on a 60-year-old patient by the medical staff of the general surgery and intensive care unit at Mongi Slim Hospital in La Marsa, Director of Medical Research at the Ministry of Health, Anis Klouz said on Friday.
Klouz added that this operation was performed on Thursday, April 25, 2019 by the medical team of this department, led by Professors Mohamed Tahar Khalfallah and Mohamed Sami Mbazaa, noting that the patient’s condition is stable.
He said organ donation saves lives and gives hope to patients and their families.
“Despite the suspension of transplant operations for a period of time at Mongi Slim Hospital, 3 operations were performed in 2018, in addition to 3 others since January 2019,” said the Medical Research Director.
He called for intensified awareness campaigns to encourage organ donation, especially by the families of deceased people, in order to save thousands of patients waiting for their turn, recalling that Tunisia has an excellent reputation worldwide in this field.
A first cardiac transplantation at Rabta-Tunis hospital was also successfully performed on Thursday. The failing heart of a forty-year-old man was replaced by a healthy organ from a brain-dead donor, Head of the Cardiovascular Department Abderraouf Denguir told media.
The procedure took five hours and the patient is recovering in the intensive care unit, Denguir said. He is in a stable condition.
A medical team at the Tunis military hospital carried out Tunisia’s first-ever heart transplant back in 1993.
TunisianMonitorOnline
