More kidney transplants will be conducted in the coming months following successful operations which were done over the past year, Chief Executive Officer of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Michael Khan, disclosed during an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA) yesterday.

He said meetings are being conducted with the team of transplant surgeons who are at present in discussion with the Minister of Health to recommence the kidney transplant operations.

Khan noted that the hospital would not be able to determine the number of persons who will undergo surgeries in the coming months, since it is based on requirements for surgeries. The operations are expected be done either in April or May.

To be eligible for the surgery, a patient suffering from end stage renal failure has to fulfill three requirements: not having other complications other than end stage renal failure; having a willing donor; and preliminary investigation must reveal that the tissue typing indicates compatibility between the donor and the recipient.

The first transplant was successfully completed on July 12, 2008, on 18-year-old Munesh Mangal of Lusignan, East Coast Demerara who received a kidney from his mother.

Mangal was followed by former army major Winston George, who received a kidney from his daughter in January 2009.

The surgeries were spearheaded by an overseas medical team, assisted by local doctors and nurses.

The kidney transplant initiative was that of US-based Guyanese businessman George Subraj, a former rice-farmer from the East Coast of Demerara who is currently President and founder of Zara Luxury Apartments and Homes in Queens, New York. (GINA)