St Paul hospital carries out kidney transplant

(Bqp.vn) - The Saint Paul Hospital in Hanoi has successfully performed its second kidney transplant.

Image for illustration.

The patient, a 32-year-old from Hanoi's Chuong My district, received a kidney from his 29-year-old brother.

According to the hospital's doctors, the transplant was difficult, as the patient had been suffering from renal failure for a long time, along with heart failure and high blood pressure. He was reported to be stable after the transplant.

Four months ago, Saint Paul Hospital became the first hospital in Hanoi and the 13th in the nation to perform a kidney transplant on a patient, a 29-year-old woman who received a kidney from her 49-year-old mother. The two have since recovered from the surgery.

Both operations, which typically cost around VND 300 million (US$14,200), were provided free of charge.

The hospital said the next three kidney transplants will also be free if the patients have a health insurance card. If not, they will have to pay for half the cost of the surgery.

Depending on the success of the second transplant, the hospital expects to perform one surgery per month. Patients with relatives able to donate kidneys will be operated on first, and at a later stage, organs will be taken from brain-dead donors.