Over 300 transplant surgeries performed in Ukraine this year - minister

Minister of Health Viktor Liashko said more than 300 transplants have been performed in Ukraine in 2021. This is an absolute record over the years of the country’s independence.

That’s according to a press release by the Ministry of Health, available to Ukrinform.

"For the first time ever, a heart transplant was performed on a child, a lung transplant was performed, as well as a simultaneous transplant (the patient had a heart and kidney replaced at the same time). In addition, 226 kidneys, 49 livers, and 32 hearts were transplanted," Liashko said.

In addition, in 2021, 19 bone marrow transplants were performed from a non-family donor, including 17 on children.

According to the minister, there are currently 26 transplant centers in Ukraine, which fully cover the costs of operations from the State budget.

For a kidney transplant in Ukraine, a hospital receives UAH 801,000 from the state budget, UAH 1.428 million – for a liver transplant, over UAH 2 million – for a heart transplant, and over UAH 2.4 million – for a bone marrow transplant from a non-family donor. For comparison, the average cost of the same operation abroad is the equivalent of UAH 3.5 million for liver and over UAH 3 million for bone marrow from a non-family donor.

"The development of transplantation in Ukraine has already allowed investing the money saved from the foreign treatment program in the development of innovative treatment methods in our country. In 2021, on the foreign treatment program the government spent UAH 545.7 million less than in 2020. These funds have already been allocated for Ukrainian hospitals. This year we have already sent half of last year’s number of patients for treatment abroad, as the vast majority of Ukrainians received medical care at home," the minister stressed.

As for the plans for 2022, Liashko says the pilot project on transplantation has been extended until December 2023, which offers an opportunity to further increase the number of transplant surgeries in Ukraine.

"Next year's budget includes UAH 939.5 million for transplantation. There will be more operations and additional resources. In 2022, we also plan to settle the issue of tissue transplantation. This will allow hospitals to create hospital tissue banks. This will raise to a new level specialized orthopedic and surgical medical care providing for recovery of patients suffering from domestic, military, and athletic injuries, birth defects, and many other conditions that require reconstructive and plastic interventions," he said.

As reported, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk signed the law on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regulating the issue of human transplantation of anatomical materials and submitted the bill to be signed by President.

im