Abu Dhabi: Since its launch in 2017, the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Transplant Center has carried out 941 successful organ transplants with a 95% success rate — higher than that of Cleveland Clinic Ohio, one of the United States’ leading centres.
At a media briefing, doctors revealed that 282 patients remain on the hospital’s waiting list, including 200 awaiting kidney transplants, 50 needing liver transplants, 20 waiting for lungs, and 12 requiring hearts.
Rising demand, limited donors
The centre attributed the backlog mainly to a shortage of living and deceased donors. Patients with blood type O face the longest delays, with average waiting times of three to five years, compared with eight to ten years in the US. Waiting times for other blood groups range from three months for AB to up to two years for type A.
Role of the “Hayat” programme
The hospital credited the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s Hayat programme with driving national organ donation efforts. Since 2017, 1,090 organ transplants have been performed across Abu Dhabi, including 290 this year alone.
Dr Bashir Sankari, Chair of the Surgical Subspecialties Institute, stressed that organ donation can save the lives of patients with conditions such as cancer, heart disease, liver cirrhosis, kidney failure and lung disease, calling the hospital a “pivotal force in advancing transplantation in the UAE.”
