ABU DHABI // After undergoing a kidney transplant in Egypt in 2008, M S, an Emirati, is hoping to go to China this month for another transplant.
Like most Emiratis, he refuses to take a kidney from a family member.
“I don’t want to harm them and if the option is available to get it from another donor, then why not,” said the 44-year-old father of three.
M S was told by Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) that his name was on the top of the list of patients waiting for a transplant.
“I’m first on the list of patients to receive organs from someone who is clinically dead, but I don’t want that,” he said. “A kidney that has been preserved after being taken from a dead person is unlike a working kidney from a live person.”
He said his first donor was a student from Sudan.
“My operation in Egypt was in Wadi El Nil hospital on November 21, 2008. The hospital had called me a day earlier and said the donor was ready, but when I arrived at the hospital in Egypt, they said they had bad news and the donor had changed his mind.
“So I was to wait. I had dialysis, and on my next appointment they said they found a donor.”
A student was the victim of a robbery, and all his money was stolen. He wanted to remain in Egypt to continue his education, and believed his only option was to sell his kidney, said M S.
“When he went to the hospital, his kidney was found to be a match to mine,” he said.
Most patients refuse to meet their donors but M S insisted on meeting the young man.
“My brother met him and made sure that he was donating his kidney willingly. I wanted to thank him later but couldn’t find him.”
M S remained in hospital for a week. He had planned to stay for six months but because of the Eid Al Adha holiday, staff said he should go back to the UAE.
Upon arrival, he faced complications and underwent eight major operations. Doctors told him the cause of his deteriorating health was the fault of the doctors in Egypt giving him a kidney that did not match, but he blames a Government hospital in the UAE.
“I tried to call my doctors in Egypt but the doctors here refused to speak to them. I suffered in this hospital, and two patients in the room next door with the same situation died. I begged to go back to Egypt.”
He said doctors refused to discharge him and he was operated on in his bed. Eventually he was allowed to return to Egypt but was not healthy enough to do so.
“They just wanted me to die outside the hospital,” he said.
Now, he is on dialysis three times a week.
“I would do anything to not be on dialysis. No one other than another patient can imagine how horrible dialysis is.”
If M S cannot go to China he wants to go back to Egypt.“I’m like a drowning man. I’ll hang on to any glimmer of hope.”
salnuwais@thenational.ae