Good News: LUTH Performs First Kidney Transplant!

Prof. Christian Chukwu, Health Minister

Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, has recorded a feat in renal transplantation treatment by successfully performing its first kidney transplant on a 38 year old female last Tuesday. The patient is said to be in a stable condition.


Medical experts have not been able to advance reasons for why there is an escalating incidence of end stage renal failure requiring kidney transplantation, but the general experience among the health care providers is that, there is an increasing rate of patients presenting in hospitals ailments relating to kidney diseases".


With this addition to the number of hospitals capable of performing this surgery, it is hoped that Nigerian patients with End-stage Renal Disease requiring renal transplantation will have improved access to services in an environment that is culturally acceptable and at a price that is more affordable to them.

To perform the feat, it was a collaborative effort between LUTH surgeons and their counterparts from Egypt, stressing that LUTH had earlier sent a team of professionals to Egypt for training and as the hospital was performing the first transplantation, it was expedient that the trainers monitor the procedure to avoid mistakes.

The first recipient, government through the hospital's management bore the cost of the surgery, but subsequent transplantation at LUTH will not cost more than N2million naira.