Port Moresby General Hospital will soon conduct kidney transplants in the country, hopefully by May if all goes well.
This is the assurance given by the Chief Surgeon of National Department of Health and Chair of Kidney Transplant Project Steering Committee, Dr. Okti Poki in a recent Press Conference in Port Moresby.
PMGH has received endorsement from its international partner, ‘Transplant Link’ from the UK to perform Kidney Transplant in the country.
Dr. Poki said if all goes as planned, Port Moresby General Hospital should be performing its first kidney transplant by May this year.
He elaborated that a 10-men team from ‘Transplant Link’ had visited the facilities at PMGH and were satisfied with the preparations towards the first kidney transplant.
“We are ready. I can say that with the support of our partners ‘Transplant Link’ a 10-men team from UK, we are ready for the programme. With a visit by the team leader, the professor that’s going to lead the team, his assessment of our facility, our operating theatre and our programmes, he was very confident and he gave us the thumbs up.”
During the opening of the dialysis center, Dr Poki said the opening signifies the start of more good things to come.
“You can’t contribute meaningfully; you’re just depending on that dialysis machine. And I am very grateful for this occasion, as I said a little earlier, this kidney dialysis programme that we are witnessing today here at the PMGH is one step away from the final step or the next stage of and that is kidney transplant,” Dr. Poki said.
“So our target is by May this year we want to have that first transplant, that’s why we are commissioning this dialysis programme now.”
Dr. Poki emphasized that the dialysis program is only a transition phase where the patients are going to move from there to the final stage of a transplant. This is when they can live a normal life.