Doctors at one of Abu Dhabi's hospitals have praised the success of the emirate's organ transplant programme but want more volunteers to sign up as donors to deliver a lifeline to patients.
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has conducted 941 organ transplants since 2017 - including 241 last year alone - but has a lengthy waiting list holding out hope for life-saving support.
It comes as the UAE’s deceased-donor rate - measuring the number of deceased people who donated organs in every one million people - has risen from 0.9 to about 15 donors per million people in two years, although it remains below the US benchmark of about 45 per million.
“Our progress over the past two years shows what is possible,” said Bashir Sankari, chief of the Integrated Surgical Team at CCAD.
“With continued community support, we can give many more patients the chance to live healthy, normal lives.”
Doctors said on Wednesday that 282 patients are awaiting organ donations, with 200 of those requiring kidney transplants.
Another 50 are on the waiting list for livers, 20 need lungs and 12 require heart transplants.
“These numbers show real progress but also the challenge: we still need more donors to meet the needs of our patients,” said Dr Sankari.
Race against time
Waiting times for a kidney depend on blood type, the hospital said.
Patients with 'AB' blood can expect a transplant in as little as three months, while those with 'B' may wait from six months to a year.
Those with 'A' typically wait one to two years, and 'O'-type patients face three to five years.
These figures remain significantly shorter than those of the US, the hospital said.
However, some patients endure long stretches on dialysis before reaching the top of the list, highlighting the importance of organ donation.
“Dialysis is not the best, but it keeps them going. I’m seeing patients referred for transplants who have been on dialysis 10 years,” said Dr Sankari
As a result of these long waits, some residents consider travelling abroad for transplants.
Doctors urged patients not to put their safety at risk by undergoing unauthorised surgeries at hospitals overseas that do not know their medical history or needs.
“Patients don’t have to really go outside and try to find [a transplant], because they’re desperate,” said Luis Campos, staff physician within the Abdominal Transplant Department.
“They go outside and get mistreated,” .
The doctors warned that commercial operations overseas carry higher risks of rejection, clotted grafts, and infections such as HIV and hepatitis B.
“Patients often lose the survival advantage compared with staying on dialysis and waiting for a regulated transplant,” Dr Sankari added.
Medical advances boost patient care
CCAD specialists highlighted several medical advances now in regular use that are improving patient outcomes.
They include the use of artificial intelligence in tailoring care needs, plus a cutting-edge blood test that allows doctors to check for signs of rejection in the heart, lung and kidney without a surgical biopsy.
Organ-preservation pumps are also being utilised to keep donor organs functioning outside of the body.
“This technology allows us to make the organ a little bit better and gives us more time,” said Dr Campos.
"Pumping a fatty liver for four to six hours shows whether it will function before implantation, reducing the risk of failed grafts."
For critically ill heart, liver or lung patients, CCAD uses extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to keep them alive for weeks or even months while an organ is located.
The hospital performs robotic kidney transplants and is expanding minimally invasive techniques for lung and other organ surgery.
Many heart and lung candidates arrive from neighbouring countries in critical condition, highlighting the clinic's status as a centre of excellence.
Nationwide drive
The Emirates has made significant progress since the government passed a law in 2016 allowing for organ transplants from the living and the dead.
The UAE launched the National Programme for Organ Donation and Transplantation – or Hayat, which means life – in November 2022 to support the strategy.
In 2024, the UAE said more than 26,000 people in the UAE had signed up to be organ donors.
Since the launch of Hayat, a total of 1,090 organ transplants have been performed across the Emirates until 2024, with 290 during the past year alone.
The 2024 list comprised seven heart transplants, 142 kidney transplants, 117 liver transplants, 22 lung transplants, and two pancreas transplants.
These achievements are made possible by four leading transplant centres, including Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, BMC and Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City.
This year, a five-month-old Emirati boy became the youngest in the country to receive a liver transplant after an aunt's donation.
Ahmed Yahya’s liver was failing because of a rare genetic condition. As doctors appealed for a suitable living donor, time was running out for Ahmed until his 36-year-old aunt volunteered to help.
