RIYADH: In a medical breakthrough, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh successfully transplanted a heart into a 7-year-old Saudi child using an organ airlifted from a brain-dead donor in Abu Dhabi.
“This marks another successful case of advanced regional cooperation in organ transplantation,” the hospital said in a statement.
“The life-saving procedure was completed following donor family consent and all regulatory approvals and after coordinating between the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation and the UAE’s National Program for Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissue.”
The operation involved precise medical and logistical coordination, starting with the organ extraction, followed by air transportation to Riyadh, and concluding with the preparation of operating theaters in record time.
The transplant was performed within a critically time-sensitive window, ultimately saving the life of a child who had no other treatment options available, the hospital said.
