Minister of Health of Ukraine and Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany visit Okhmatdyt

Recently, a landmark event took place in Ukraine for the medical community and patients waiting for transplantation. Among the posthumous donors was a 13-year-old boy from Odesa region who, unfortunately, died of a stroke. His family, despite their difficult emotional state, made an important decision to give others a chance at life by donating their son’s organs for transplantation.

The Unified State Information System (USIS) quickly identified donor-recipient pairs. Despite the large distance between donors and recipients, thanks to the coordinated work of the Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Center, medical teams received blood samples for histocompatibility testing and performed transplants in different regions of the country.

On St. Nicholas Day in Ukraine, a series of transplants were performed that saved the lives of many patients. At the Heart Institute, 7-year-old Tykhon, who developed dilated cardiomyopathy due to a severe viral disease, received a new heart.

Also, the team of specialists at this institution performed a lung transplant for the first time for 35-year-old Marharyta, a mother of five who had been waiting for the operation for more than four years. Previously, only five such transplants had been performed in Ukraine, and this was the first since the beginning of 2024.

In addition, two children received new kidneys: 9-year-old Oleh at the Lviv Clinical Center for Pediatric Medicine, and 6-year-old Dmytro at the Kyiv City Center of Nephrology and Dialysis. On the night before St. Nicholas Day, transplantologists at the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital performed surgery on 17-year-old Olena, who had been waiting for a donor liver for almost a year and a half. Due to autoimmune hepatitis, the girl developed cirrhosis, and only an organ transplant could save her life.

Transplantologist Oleh Hodik shared his emotions on social media: “Everyone has their own gifts for St. Nicholas Day. More than 800 kilometers, 10 hours on the road, 16 hours of operating time, and the result is the patient’s smile today.”

The consent of four families to posthumous donation made it possible to carry out transplants for 12 more Ukrainians. The surgeries were also performed at the Shalimov National Scientific Center of Surgery and Transplantation, Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No. 1, and Lviv Multidisciplinary Clinical Hospital of Intensive Care.

In loving memory of the donors and with deep gratitude to their families for their decision.

Despite the war, Ukraine is making significant strides in the development of transplantation. This is a joint achievement of doctors, medical institutions, patients and the state.

All transplant operations are free of charge for patients and funded by the state as part of the medical guarantees program. According to the National Health Service of Ukraine, 40 medical institutions are contracted to perform organ transplants, and 10 to perform hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

More information about transplantation and its features can be found on the website and official Facebook page of the Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Center.