Thanks to an agreement of cooperation between the health ministries of Israel and Cyprus, a liver donated by a woman from Nicosia saved a young woman’s life in Israel.
Leasing a private jet from Cyprus, Israel’s National Transplant Center, together with a medical team from Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, flew the donated liver to Jerusalem during the night of Sunday, October 1st. The Hadassah medical team included Dr. Gadi Marom, a surgeon; Tamer Hadidi, an operating room nurse; and Kiril Grozovsky, the transplant coordinator, who went to the hospital in Cyrus to retrieve the liver.
Back at Hadassah Hospital, transplant surgeons, while waiting for the donated liver to arrive, began performing the first part of the transplant: removing the diseased liver from the patient who was to receive the liver.
“The operation lasted about seven hours,” says Senior Transplant Surgeon Dr. Abed Khalaileh. “The patient is recovering well from the operation in Hadassah’s Intensive Care Unit.”
Prof. Rafael Beyar, Chair of the National Transplant Center’s Steering Committee and Director of Rambam Hospital, notes: “The agreement between Israel and Cyprus is a good example of friendship between two neighboring countries. It allows for mutual organ donation between Cyprus and Israel when no suitable organ is found locally and a match for the tissue and organs are found in the other country. It saves lives.”