Surgeons at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSHRC) in Riyadh have successfully performed a heart transplant on a two-and-a-half-year-old girl after an eight-month wait for a suitable donor. The hospital had temporarily become her home after doctors decided to implant a ventricular assist device due to her severe heart muscle disease. Thanks to the exceptional efforts of various teams at the hospital, the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation, and Riyadh Traffic Police, the dream of returning to her family and home became a reality.
KFSHRC explained that on the morning of last Tuesday, they received a notification from the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation about a suitable donor in Taif, a four-year-old boy who had passed away due to brain death. Immediately, a medical team from KFSHRC in Riyadh traveled to Taif, where the young child’s heart awaited to give new life to the little girl.
Upon the medical team’s return to Riyadh on Wednesday morning, the capital’s streets were experiencing heavy traffic congestion. However, thanks to coordination and joint work with the Riyadh Traffic Police, the ambulance carrying the heart from the airport to the hospital was able to cover a distance of more than 40 kilometers in just 25 minutes, under the direct supervision of the Riyadh Region Traffic Police. Upon the heart’s arrival at KFSHRC, the specialized medical team was ready to transplant it into the girl’s body, and the operation was successfully completed, thanks to God. She is now undergoing medical follow-up.
The hospital stated that these combined efforts and intensive communication between the various teams were sufficient to overcome all logistical challenges, as well as the medical challenges faced by the medical team, which included a difference in blood type between the donor and the child. However, the team’s expertise in performing such operations was able, with God’s help, to restore hope to the little girl and joy to her family.
With a new heart beating in her chest, the girl’s family is now experiencing moments of joy and hope. However, there are still 37 children and their families in Saudi Arabia today who are eagerly awaiting that call informing them of a donor who can change their child’s life.
It is worth mentioning that King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre has been ranked first in the Middle East and Africa and 20th globally for the second consecutive year on the list of the top 250 academic medical institutions worldwide, and the highest-valued healthcare brand in the Kingdom and the Middle East, according to Brand Finance for 2024. It was also ranked among the top 250 hospitals in the world by Newsweek magazine in the same year.