The National Center for Transplantation, together with medical teams from Hadassah Hospital, flew a donated liver from a patient who died in Nicosia to Jerusalem. The liver was transplanted into an Israeli patient. The move is part of an agreement of cooperation for organ donations between the Israel and Cyprus Ministries of Health.
The marathon drama took place during the night of Sunday, October 1st, 2017, when the National Center for Transplant leased a private jet from the state of Cyprus.
A medical team from Hadassah Hospital, including Dr. Gadi Marom, a surgeon, Tamer Hadidi, an operating room, and Kiril Grozovsky, the transplant coordinator, went to the hospital in Cyrus on the plane, took the donor’s liver, and flew back to the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.
While they were waiting for the donated liver to arrive, back at Hadassah Hospital surgeons began performing the first part of the transplant – removing the diseased liver from the recipient patient.
When the donor liver arrived, the transplant process began. “The operation lasted about seven hours,” says Dr. Abed Khalaileh, senior surgeon at the Hadassah Transplant Center. “The patient is recovering well from the operation in the Hadassah intensive care unit.”
“The agreement between Israel and Cyprus is a good example of friendship between the two neighboring countries,” said Prof. Rafi Beyar, chairman of the steering committee of the National Transplant Center and director of the Rambam Hospital. “The agreement allows for mutual organ donation between Cyprus and Israel when no suitable organ is found locally and a match for the tissue and organs are found in the other country. It saves lives. ”
Read about this in Hebrew www.ynet.co.il