EGYPT: Plan for first organ transplant college

With hepatitis C infecting around 20% of Egypt's 80 million population and renal failure estimated at around 14,000 cases annually, the country is planning to create a first college to qualify specialists in organ transplants.

The plan includes establishing a state-of-the art medical centre to be annexed to the college to provide low-cost medical treatment to patients who need organ transplants, according to education authorities.

"The state is interested in establishing a college for grooming specialists in transplanting kidneys and livers, in addition to a healthcare centre of the highest international standards," said Professor Ahmed Bayoumi Shehab Eddin, President of the University of Mansura in Egypt Nile Delta, where the new facilities will be set up on 1.2 hectares.

The University of Mansura is a public education institution located around 120 kilometres north of Cairo.

Shehab Eddin explained that the public treasury was burdened with the enormous costs of providing a free haemodyalsis service to people with renal failure.

"In addition to the high costs, haemodialysis produces complications, which make it difficult for patients to lead a normal life." Organ transplants were therefore the best treatment for liver and kidney failure, according to Shehab Eddin.

Earlier this year, the Egyptian parliament approved a long-awaited bill regulating organ transplants, aimed at curbing an illegal trade in human organs.

Hundreds and possibly thousands of poor Egyptians sell organs to pay off debts and buy food, making the country a regional 'hub' for organ trafficking, according to the World Health Organization.

In recent years, Egypt has cracked down on illicit trade involving local brokers seeking organs for wealthy Arabs from the Gulf.

The bill stipulates that organs donated from live donors will be restricted to "family members of the fourth degree", and criminalises the removal of organs without official authorisation. The passage of the law after months of debate is expected to curb organ transplants often carried under unsafe conditions.

In Shehab Eddin's view, the new bill on organ transplants will prompt an increase in transplant surgery, and will require a large number of highly qualified surgeons.

"The state spends a lot of money sending Egyptian doctors overseas to be trained as organ transplant surgeons. So the establishment of the new college will save this money and encourage relevant research in Egypt," said Shehab Eddin. "The new facilities will also promote cooperation with world research centres in this field."

Another aim of the project, according to him, is to provide excellent healthcare to Egyptians at low costs.

"There are Egyptians who go abroad and spend millions of pounds to undergo organ transplant operations at medical centres, which may not be up to the standard. And when they return home, they suffer health problems in the absence of well-equipped centres in Egypt to look after them," he said.

The college and medical centre are scheduled to be completed within three years.