First donor kidney transplantation made in South Kazakhstan

A donor kidney has been transplanted to a patient with renal failure for the first time in South Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing head of South Kazakhstan Oblast Healthcare Department Zhumagali Ismailov. South-Kazakhstan doctors assisted famous transplant surgeon Kwan Te Pak who came from South Korea specially for the surgery. It was a kind of a master-class for head of South-Kazakhstan Oblast Healthcare Department Zhumagali Ismailov and Senior Doctor of the Ambulance Hospital. Now they will be able to transplant kidneys one their own. The patient who was the first person to get the surgery in Shymkent had been suffering from kidneys diseases for several years. His relative became the donor. According to the doctors, such donorship provides good guarantees of transplantability. “The best result are achieved when the patients close relative is the donor. It this case life duration is 20-25 years and 7-8 years in case of a far relative. If the donor is cadaveric, the lifespan is even less,” surgeon and senior doctor of the Ambulance Hospital Madi Begaliyev said. Two people have undergone these surgeries in Shymkent so far. The surgeries were made to the patients of Shymkent Ambulance Hospital at the cost of the state. According to Kwan Te Pak, such surgeries cost $8 thousand in South Korea, but normally the national insurance covers them. 21 people currently require kidney transplantation in South Kazakhstan. They are all waitlisted in the Healthcare Ministry. The total of 35 South-Kazakhstan oblast citizens live with donor kidneys and receive treatment at the cost of the oblast budget. However, all of them had the surgeries abroad. The total of 300 people are currently diagnosed with renal failures in South Kazakhstan.