The Ministry of Health and Community Protection announced the launch of the Center for Organ Transplantation and Human Tissue at Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah, in partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, during the Ministry's participation in the Arab Health 2020 exhibition and conference held from January 27-30 in the Dubai Center Global business.
It is the first center of its kind at the level of the Ministry, which was equipped to keep pace with the latest international health standards and to achieve the aspiration of the United Arab Emirates to be a model to be followed at the regional and global levels in the field of organ transplantation and human tissue.
The Assistant Undersecretary of the Hospitals Sector, Dr. Youssef Mohamed Al Serkal confirmed that the launch of the Center for Organ Transplantation and Human Tissue at Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah is one of the fruits of the decree of Federal Law No. (5) of 2016, issued by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, regarding the organization of transportation And organ and human tissue transplantation, which keeps pace with the latest international health standards and provides a legislative system for organ transplantation. It also falls within the outputs of the National Program for Organ Transplantation launched by the UAE government in 2018, which aims to regulate the conduct of transfers, transplants, preserving and developing human organs and tissues, preventing trafficking in them, protecting the rights of people who are transferred from them or to them, and preventing the exploitation of the need of the patient or the donor, and that In application and stresses the UAE’s commitment to criminalize trafficking in organ transplants, indicating that organ transplantation will constitute a sustainable solution for a large number of patients, especially those with cancer, heart disease, pulmonary failure, cirrhosis and kidney failure.
Dr. Youssef Al-Serkal pointed out that the opening of the center will contribute to strengthening government trends in stimulating medical tourism in the country, and speeds up the pace of work on establishing a national bank for members, as well as spreading the culture of organ donation and social and educational awareness in this framework, because it contributes to alleviating the pain of thousands Patients, reduce the burden on hospitals, reduce material costs to the state and society, and motivate insurance companies to launch new packages related to organ transplantation.
For her part, Dr. Kalthoum Al Balushi, Director of Hospitals Administration, said that the launch of the Organ Transplantation Center at Al Qasimi Hospital confirms the efforts of the UAE to reserve a leadership position in the field of enhancing donation practices and organ transplantation and human tissues, given the availability of all capabilities and capabilities in terms of medical cadres, health facilities and infrastructure Technological, as well as international partnerships with the most prestigious international institutions specializing in promoting scientific research in the field of organ transplantation.
Dr. Kalthoum referred to the national organ donation program, which constitutes a sustainable solution for a large number of patients and contributes to restoring hope for life, and the organ transplant center at Al Qasimi Hospital will be the fifth facility at the state level in the number of health facilities licensed for organ transplantation in the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City , Cleveland Clinic Hospital, Madina Mediclinic Hospital, and Al Jalila Children's Hospital.
In this regard, the Ministry is keen on applying international best practices to ensure uniform procedures at the state level, as the National Committee for Organ Transplantation trained nearly 180 specialists from various medical authorities in the country.