Ongwediva
The medical team at the privately-owned Ongwediva Medipark – with the assistance of medical specialists from South Africa – this week successfully performed the first-ever kidney transplant in Namibia.
The news was shared with the media this week by Dr Tshali Iithete, the managing director of Ongwediva Medipark. According to Iithete, the kidney transplant occurred at 10h00 on Tuesday and lasted for about six hours.
The doctor said it was the first operation of its kind in Namibia.
He further said their medical team has been planning for this type of operation for 15 months. “We have been going to South Africa to get the necessary help for this type of transplant and to establish it,” Iithete continued.
Iithete noted that the 59-year-old patient who received the new kidney transplant had a chronic kidney problem and had been on a dialysis machine that replicates the functions of a kidney.
The patient received the donated kidney from his 20-year-old son and both the donor and the recipient are recovering well.
Iithete said if the patient was not operated on, he would have remained dependent on dialysis for the rest of his life, or would have to be sent to South Africa, where patients with a similar condition are regularly operated on.
Iithete said Medipark will hold a press conference today to shed more light on their historic medical achievement.