PESHAWAR: The public sector Institute of Kidney Diseases (IKD), Hayatabad Medical Complex, is set to carry out the first paired kidney exchange (swap transplant) to provide hope to many patients, who currently have incompatible donors.
“There is lack of organ donors. Many times, patients with both damaged kidneys need renal transplants and their tissues don’t match with their legal donors. In such cases, we opt for swap donors where two or more incompatible donor-recipient pairs exchange their donors to receive healthy, matching kidneys,” Dr Samiur Rahman, head of transplant unit at IKD, told Dawn.
According to him, they have started workup on two patients and their female donors. He hoped the first-ever swap donor case would be conducted at IKD within a fortnight.
The lead transplant surgeon said that many patients did not get transplants because of mismatch of their kidneys with their donors. He said that doctors persuaded both the families and they agreed on swap transplant. “This will enable both the patients to get new lives,” he added.
The programme will help those patients, who have incompatible donors
He said that swap kidney transplants was routinely conducted around the globe to treat more patients, who were undergoing dialysis. He said that dialysis was not treatment but it brought temporary comfort to patients. “The swap programme will help many patients, who have been waiting transplants as they will get kidneys from donors other than their own while their own donors will give kidneys to others after certain tests,” he said.
Dr Sami, who has conducted 35 renal transplants including 16 in June and 19 in July at IKD, said that they had also planned two renal transplants of children first time in any public sector hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “One is a girl of 13 and another is a five-year-old boy. They are ready to get renal transplants but we are waiting to treat some medical issues, they have, before embarking on the procedures,” he said.
He said that many children also required renal transplants but it was needed to develop a culture of organ donations among people. “Deceased donor programme is also being developed to ensure that people donate their organs during their lifetime and we take their organs while they are brain dead at hospital,” he said.
Dr Sami said that patients were visiting IKD for transplant but donation of organs was not common. He said that the swap donor programme was also a ray of hope for patients. They could get renal transplants despite the fact that kidneys of their legitimate donors couldn’t be matched, he added.
“We are also operating on two patients, who have arrived at IKD after waiting for several months at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) because of heavy workload there. Our renal transplant programme at IKD has shown significant progress over the last two months. We are continuously expanding the programme,” he said.
Transplant surgeon said that of late, they had got a dedicated transplant ward, recruited additional staff to strengthen the service and were planning to start a swap transplant programme.
He said that all those patients, who were undergoing dialysis, required renal transplants but the main issue was lack of donors. “We are trying to look for ways and means to pave the way for organ donations so that people get permanent solution rather than banking on dialysis, which is time-consuming and temporary besides patients need to travel to hospitals for long sessions. Transplants ensure better quality of life and freedom from machines,” he said.
Dr Sami said that 60 cases were being processed currently at IKD. “Fifteen have been approved by Medical Transplantation Regulatory Authority. New cases are coming every day,” he said.
Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2026
