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Within 72 Hours, 6 Successful Heart Transplants Were Performed in a Rare Occurrence of This Kind at a Single Centre

Minister of Health praises "KFSH&RC" for carrying out 6 heart transplants for Saudi patients, including a four-year-old child

Dr. Tawfiq Al Rabiah, Minister of Health and Chairman of the Board of Directors of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, General Organization, praised the achievement of 6 heart transplant operations for six Saudi patients aged between 4 and 54 years at King Faisal Specialist hospital and Research Centre. This happened recently within 72 hours as an achievement of a rare occurrence globally of this kind and at one centre.

During his welcoming at his office in the Ministry headquarters Last Thursday, Dr. Rabiah congratulated His Excellence, the Acting CEO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Dr. Majid Al Fayyadh, the COO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh Dr. Rashed Al-Hmaid, the Director of the Heart Centre Dr. Jehad Alburaiki and the medical team as well as Dr. Faisal Shaheen, President of the Saudi Centre for Organ Transplantation.

During the meeting, Dr. Al-Rabiah stressed the importance of community awareness and promoting the culture of deceased organ donation.

On his part, the Acting CEO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, General Organization, Dr. Majid Al Fayyadh, emphasized that the fine operations conducted at KFSH&RC and the success of heart transplants have reached a total of two hundred and eighty-two (282) heart transplants since 1989 till now. In addition, the Heart Centre is ranked within the list of the largest 10% of the world cardiac centers in terms of the number of annual heart transplants according to the statistics of the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), thanks to the infrastructure strength of "KFSH&RC", and the availability of highly qualified medical and nursing staff and technical support teams, and continuity of the unlimited support provided by our country to the health care sector in the Kingdom, with the citizens’ health comes as a top priority.

Dr. Al Fayyadh praised the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation for playing a pivotal role in facilitating access to donated organs and to the relatives of donors for their rapid response and prayed to Allah to bestow his mercy upon the donors.

Dr. Jehad Alburaiki, Director of Heart Centre at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, said that the donated organs were brought from Dammam, Hail, Qassim and Riyadh, and this occurred close together in time and coincided with the weekend, which necessitated rapid movement and double effort in coordination with the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation, noting that the specialized surgical teams began heart transplantation for six patients aged between 4 and 54 years old. All patients were males suffering from heart failure, including four patients who have undergone the transplantation of artificial heart devices that work to keep the patient in good health until heart is transplanted for them,He also stated that 10 artificial heart transplantations have been performed for patients on the waiting list since the beginning of the calendar year 2017 until the end of August of this year, achieving results similar to the ones of the international centers specialized in heart transplantation.