The Kyrgyz Ministry of Health has reported on a visit to Bishkek by doctors from Turkey’s Inonu University to assess the potential of Kyrgyz clinics to perform high-tech operations.
The delegation from Turkey’s leading centre for organ transplantation was greeted by the President of Kyrgyzstan. Accompanied by the Minister of Health, they then visited the National Surgical Centre where plans are in place to perform kidney transplants, and afterwards, the Centre for Maternal and Child Health, which plans to perform bone marrow transplants.
After receiving the experts’ recommendations on the readiness of operating rooms and intensive care units to receive patients, Kyrgyz Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliyev reported, “To establish a successful liver transplant operative, $2 million will be allocated for the purchase the necessary equipment. Twenty million Kyrgyz som ($220,000) will also be allocated to repair the operating and resuscitation departments of the National Surgical Centre.”
He added that apart from those issues, the Kyrgyz hospitals meet all the requirements necessary for organ transplants.
Head of the Turkish delegation, Inonu University Rector Ahmet Kizilay, drew attention to the fact that to date, 65 Kyrgyz doctors had received training at their medical centre, considered one of the world’s leading clinics for organ transplantation, and a further 33 Kyrgyz specialists were currently on site to improve their qualifications.
At the beginning of the year, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov signed a law allowing state and private clinics in Kyrgyzstan to perform organ transplants, with the provision that donors were related to the patients. The presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Turkey subsequently came to an agreement whereby Turkish doctors would help Kyrgyz doctors gain relevant experience and skills through the latter performing kidney transplants in Turkey. In the interim, doctors from Kazakhstan have also pitched in by performing a free operation for a Kyrgyz girl together with Kyrgyz doctors.
Though poised to create a centre for liver transplantation, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health has emphasized the need for continued research on related problems and best practices of other countries.
