Dushanbe boasts the only National Transplant Center in Central Asia

DUSHANBE, May 25, 2011, Asia-Plus -- An official opening of the National Scientific Center for Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues took place in Dushanbe on May 24.  It is reportedly the only National Transplant Center in Central Asia.

Speaking at the center-inaugurating ceremony, Minister of Health Nusratullo Salimov noted that some 100 patients in Tajikistan needed kidney transplant procedure.  “Of them, only 20 percent have an opportunity to undergo the kidney transplant procedure outside the country, spending for this US$25,000 to US$60,000,” the minister said.

According to him, 2.971 million somoni have been spent for renovation of the building provided for the Center and purchase of necessary equipment, furniture and medicines.

Shohin Nazarov, the head of the Center’s department of surgical research and transplantology, noted that Tajik specialists have performed 10 kidney transplant procedures to date.

We will recall that the firs kidney transplant operation was performed in Tajikistan on November 5, 2009.  In Tajikistan, the kidney transplant procedure reportedly costs 49,000 somoni (equivalent to more than 10,000 U.S. dollars).

The National Transplant Center specialists plan to perform a liver transplant operation this year for the first time.  They also plan to perform a bone marrow transplant procedure in the future.

The law on transplantation of human organs and tissues was signed by the president in July 2007 and Tajik government passed a decree on establishment of the National Transplant Center in summer 2010.