Dr. Andreas Soloukides, Assistant Director of Nephrology and Head of the Transplant Clinic at Nicosia General Hospital.
Dr. Soloukides, who is also Vice President of the Cyprus Transplant Council, said that thanks to the recent organ donation from a young Cypriot woman who was killed in a car accident, five of our fellow citizens have been given a second chance at life thanks to a titanic coordination effort by surgical teams from Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, noting that all the recipients are in very good health.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
When asked about the recent heart transplant from a young Cypriot woman who was killed in a car accident to a 45-year-old woman in Israel, Dr. Soloukidis said that this particular donation is the result of a cooperation agreement signed many years ago by the Ministry of Health with the National Transplant Organization of Israelas well as its counterpart in Greece.
Under this agreement, he explained, “organs that remain unused in Cyprus due to the country’s small population and size—since Cyprus does not perform transplants of organs such as the heart, lungs, or liver— are donated to these countries, with priority given to the National Transplant Organization of Greece.”
He added that if an organ is rejected by the Greek Agency, it is then allocated to Israel on a priority basis. If there is no available recipient in either of these two countries, the organ is allocated through a platform so that it can be made available to another European country.
In recent years, Dr. Soloukidis noted, with the establishment of the Transplant Council, cooperation with these countries has expanded, particularly with Israel, which, “on numerous occasions—at least twice in the last two years—has received a heart transplant, as in the recent case from the Cypriot donor, as well as a lung last year, which was again rejected by Greece and allocated to Israel.”
In addition, he noted that approximately 50% of liver transplants, which Greece does not accept for various reasons, end up in Israel.
“We have an excellent working relationship both with the National Transplant Organization of Greece and with Israel,” he noted, adding that when necessary, the surgical teams make a “titanic coordination effort” by the surgical teams.
Five people were given a second chance at life
In the case of the most recent donation, he said, four different teams collaborated: a team from Onassis Hospital in Athens that retrieved the lungs, a team from the hospital in Israel that received the heart transplant, a team from the Hippocrates Hospital in Thessaloniki that received the liver, and a team from Cyprus that received the two kidneys.
“All the organs have been transplanted. Specifically, the two Cypriot kidney recipients, like the others, are in excellent condition. The organs functioned immediately, and so these people—five of our fellow human beings—have been given a second chance at life,” he noted.
This collaboration, Dr. Soloukidis emphasized, is reciprocal; that is, based on the agreements that have been signed, Cypriot patients in need of heart or or lung transplants are placed on Greek waiting lists, and there is also a collaboration with Israel regarding cross-transplants of kidneys, that is, pairs where one partner has a donor for the recipient but they are not a match due to blood type or other factors, are entered into a software program provided by Israel that runs simulations, so that kidneys can be exchanged between pairs.”
In this way, he continued, over the past three years we have been able to help seven couples from Cyprus who had donors but could not receive transplants from each other, to undergo transplants through Israel’s kidney exchange program.
In addition, he said that for pediatric kidney transplants, children receive transplants in collaboration with both Israel and Greece.
“Therefore, this collaboration is a two-way street; so organs that are available but not needed in Cyprus are donated so they are not wasted; on the other hand, Cypriot patients who need transplants of these organs are usually placed on the waiting liststransplant lists in those countries,” noted Dr. Soloukidis.
As Vice President of the Transplant Council, Dr. Soloukidis expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Council’s President, the Ministry of Health, the National Transplant Organization of Greece, and its counterpart in Israel for their excellent cooperation.
“All of this is being done so that we can help as many people as possible through the loss of one of our fellow human beings,” he emphasized.
19 kidney transplants this year in Cyprus
Regarding this year’s figures for Cyprus, Dr. Soloukidis said that 19 kidney transplants have been performed, with the last two taking place the day before yesterday, while even more transplants are scheduled to take place by the end of the year.
He noted that we typically have around 10 deceased donors each year. This number, he said, places Cyprus roughly in the middle of the EU rankings. “Therefore, all efforts by the Transplant Council are aimed at further increasing the number of potential donors, so that we can move up the EU rankings,” he added.
Regarding living donation, Dr. Soloukides said that Cyprus ranks very high in Europe and the goal is to move up in both categories through various initiatives.
This year, 19 people have received a kidney transplant in Cyprus. Data on transplants of other organs will be available by the end of the year.
Source: CNA
