The kidney transplant operation took place with assistance from the First Affiliated Hospital of the Sun Yat-sen University.
A Macao medical team has successfully completed the first kidney transplant in Macao involving a living donor, with assistance from the First Affiliated Hospital of the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong Province. The surgical procedure involved a 54-year-old woman giving one of her own kidneys to her 39-year-old sister. The two women are now in-patients at the Conde S. Januário Hospital following the operations, and are respectively in a stable condition. The recipient was reported to have stable blood circulation and stable excretion of urine – key factors for assessing the success of such a transplant. The procedure – including removal of a kidney from the donor (nephrectomy), stabilisation of the removed organ, and the insertion of the kidney inside the body of the recipient – was done by a 12-member local medical team on Sunday (6 November), said the Director of the Health Bureau, Mr Lei Chin Ion, during a press briefing held on Monday (7 November). The transplant operation marked a new chapter in the city’s medical sector; it also helped raise public awareness regarding organ donation in Macao, said Mr Lei. Speaking during Monday’s press briefing, the Deputy Director of the First Affiliated Hospital of the Sun Yat-sen University, Professor He Xiaoshun, said this was a breakthrough in the cooperation between his hospital and the counterpart institution in Macao. Prof. He added it had been achieved under the guidance of the Chairman of the National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, Dr Huang Jiefu. The operation showed Macao was advancing its medical techniques and would encourage further support from members of the public regarding organ donation. Such donation was a common practice in other well-developed cities, Prof. He added. There are approximately 600 patients in Macao that need to undergo haemodialysis (a way of cleansing from the blood of patients with kidney malfunction the toxins, extra salt and fluids that can otherwise build up); nonetheless, only a very limited number of organs can be obtained every year in Macao from living or deceased donors, Mr Lei said. To facilitate the opportunity for patients to receive appropriate treatment, the Government will step up efforts to promote organ transplantation within the local community; and will work more closely with counterparts on the mainland in order to share access to donated organs, i.e. Macao patients would be put on the mainland’s waiting list and vice versa. In addition, the Government has been sending local medical professionals to receive specialist training from medical experts at the Sun Yat-sen University. Macao formulated in 1995 a regulation on transplantation of organs and tissue and updated in 2015 the composition of the Ethics Committee for Life Sciences. Following several rounds of discussions by experts, the definition of, and regulation for, certifying brain stem death – and guidance on determining brain stem death – have been in place since April and May this year, respectively. A task force for organ transplantation, organised under the Health Bureau, has been preparing qualifying criteria – including patient age, general health and physical condition – regarding a transplant waiting list system in Macao. The standards applicable on the mainland and under international practice are both reference points for the Health Bureau in this regard.
