First kidney transplant for PNG and Pacific expected early next year

The Kidney transplant project at the Port Moresby General is expected to perform its first kidney transplant in the first or toward the end of first quarter of 2025.

Chairman of the Kidney Transplant Steering Committee and Chief Surgeon of the National Department of Health, Dr. Hoxxen Okti Poki said currently only dialysis treatment is available.

“The kidney transplant program has made some progress this year. We believe that by the end of this year we will have the equipment that we need. We've done the training of the manpower.

“We need some specialized medication and specialized equipment and they are in the procurement process.

“And we hope that in the first quarter of next year, or maybe towards the end of the first quarter of next year, we will see the first kidney transplant done in this country and for the Pacific region,” Dr. Poki said.

He said they also need some important legislation that needs to go before parliament, before the transplant is done and they have been working on this for much of this year.

Dr. Poki highlighted that since January this year Port Moresby General Hospital is providing kidney dialysis service.

He said the process is basically that patients who have got kidney failure are now being kept alive by having a dialysis for about three times minimum per week.

“Dialysis is a very costly thing for the patient before the actual transition from having a dialysis to having a new kidney where the patient can go back to his or her normal life,” Dr. Poki added.

Dr. Poki said this program is a government policy that they want to deliver.