ABU DHABI // Fatima Al Blooshi, 41, has been on kidney dialysis for six years, a difficult and unpleasant treatment she undergoes three times a week for four hours a time.
The mother of four longs for an escape from the treatment.
“I was told that I was stupid for refusing to get an illegal transplant done in a neighbouring country and waiting for the UAE to pass the law on transplants from deceased donors, but I am glad that we finally have the laws in place because I don’t want my cure to cause suffering to others who are forced to donate,” she said, adding that she has no donor match among her relatives.
“The doctor just called me in and told me that I have advanced kidney failure and must come in for dialysis. When he saw how shocked I was, he said that often kidney disease is a silent disorder without symptoms and that my kidney disease was chronic and not likely to recover,” she said.
“I wanted it to be a bad dream. I couldn’t believe it.” She did not suffer from high cholesterol or blood pressure.
“My only problem was that my haemoglobin levels were always low and I did not know that it could be due to kidney disease.”
Describing the sessions, she said: “It’s a nightmare and I am not tolerating the dialysis well. I can’t wait to get a transplant.”
Ever since she was diagnosed she says that she felt different. “I feel like a part of me is missing. ”
Dr Muhammad Badar Zaman, head of the transplantation service at Seha’s Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, said that the hospital had carried out 201 transplants since 2008. A law allowing transplants from dead patients was only approved last year.
“In the past we have been dependent on family relatives to donate, and in many families there isn’t a suitable donor,” he said.
“Not having an adequate programme for kidney patients is a big problem for many patients. We know that kidney transplantation not only improves the quality of life, but also survival.”
It is also significantly cheaper compared than dialysis.
“The cost of a transplant is roughly the same as one year of dialysis, about Dh275,000. But following that, the cost of managing a patient following a transplant falls exponentially to about Dh37,000 a year.
“Kidney failure, especially end stage kidney failure, is very prevalent in our region because of associated risk factors for kidney disease, so to meet this challenge we finally have this bill for retrieval or organs after death.
“This is a turning point because we can essentially fill the gap. We can never completely fill it because demand will always be much higher than supply, but we now will have more options and always prevention of organ failure should go hand in hand with promoting transplant options.”
For Mrs Al Blooshi and doctors, the change in the law is a significant turning point.
Dr Tomislav Mihaljevic, chief executive of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, said: “We could not have approached any families without the legal framework, and this literally came into effect a few days ago. The moment we have legal support, we will start approaching families.”
“But you have to understand that there are certain criteria – they have to be brain-dead and statistically the organs of the majority of deaths are not suitable for donation, and the best transplant programmes must include all the acute bed hospitals in the UAE.
“We will be looking emirate-wide.”
salnuwais@thenational.ae