BSMMU surgeons perform country's 'first' cadaveric kidney transplant

Surgeons at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University successfully transplanted kidneys from a clinically dead person to two separate patients last night.

One of the surgeons said it was the first cadaveric kidney transplant performed in the country.

They took the kidneys from Sara Islam, a 20-year-old patient at the intensive care unit who was declared clinically dead yesterday afternoon, after her mother gave her consent for the operation.

Sara was admitted to the hospital four days ago, according to Habibur Rahman Dulal, a professor of urology at BSMMU who headed the team of surgeons.

Habibur Rahman told The Daily Star today, "We called it cadaveric organ donor transplantation. This is the first of its kind in our country. Both the recipients are doing well."

The BSMMU authorities will share details in a press conference this afternoon.

Kidney transplantation from living donors began in the country in 1982. But taking a kidney from a clinically dead patient was legally restricted.

In 2018, the organ donation law was amended allowing collection of organs from the clinically dead with consent from relatives.