Historic local liver transplant surgeries offer hope for Jamaican children
Published:Saturday | September 29, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Noting that between six and seven children are born in Jamaica each year with liver disease that can be addressed with transplants, efforts are under way to have these surgeries readily available and accessible.
Following two liver transplant surgeries at Bustamante Hospital for Children last week, the first in Jamaica, Dr Christopher Raab, transplant paediatrician at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in the United States, said the goal is to collaborate with Jamaica in having all the surgeries done locally.
"The ultimate idea behind this is to do enough surgeries that this can be an independent programme here in Jamaica. Based on prior experience, probably somewhere around six to seven children a year born in Jamaica have transplantable liver disease," said Raab.
"We probably don't see all of those because they don't necessarily get all the care in time. That's a problem here, and that's a problem in the United States as well.
"Getting 10-15 transplants over the course of two to three years would be ideal in order to get the programme on its feet and independent, so that is our goal. It might take a little longer than that and it could be shorter, but that is a goal," added Raab.
He noted that over the last seven to eight years, his team has done transplants for seven or eight Jamaican babies at its hospital in the US but faced the challenge of getting these children to America and back.
According to Raab, this challenge is best solved by doing the transplants here in Jamaica.
"Our philosophy is that care is always delivered best locally," said Raab.
Senior medical officer at Bustamante Hospital for Children, Dr Michelle-Ann Richards-Dawson, expressed gratitude for the continued collaboration with the international doctors, as she underscored that every effort is being made to ensure that more children can benefit locally.
Richards-Dawson said the 13-month-old and 18-month-old babies who benefited from the historic liver transplant surgeries last week are recovering and doing well.