JEDDAH, 19 July 2003 — The Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation said yesterday the rate of kidney failure among Saudis was 120 in one million.

At the same time, 75 percent of families of brain-dead patients refused to donate any part of the body of their relative for transplantation.

Dr. Faisal Shaheen, director general of the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation, said the total number of kidney transplant operations by the end of 2002 reached 3,758, of which 1,267 were transplanted from people who were brain dead.

The remaining 2,491 were donations from relatives.

As for liver transplants, the number of successful operations reached 297, of which 225 were from patients who were brain dead and 54 were donations from relatives.

The director general also said there had been 92 heart transplants, adding that the center made use of 264 hearts as a source for replacing bad arteries.

The center successfully transplanted 12 lungs in the past year.

The center’s annual report said that the number of organ donations recorded was 208.

It said an official report had been made into families of patients declared brain dead who were asked to allow harvesting of organs.

The report revealed that in 23.2 percent of the cases, families were called, and 75.1 percent of that number refused.

The center said 7,391 patients were being treated for kidney failure and are undergoing blood cleansing. The percentage of people who suffer from kidney failure in the Kingdom is at an average of 120 cases to every 1 million.

Of those being treated for kidney failure in 2002, 801 died, an average of 10.8 percent, rating about the average internationally.

Some 3,970 patients are waiting their turn on the national waiting list for kidney transplants. Of that number, 2,687 patients, or more than 40 percent, need an immediate operation.

The Western region in the Kingdom recorded the highest number of dialysis patients.

Treatment for dialysis patients costs around SR700 million a year. The number of centers in the Kingdom that provide facilities for kidney failure patients was 144 at the end of 2002.

The centers, 75 percent of which belong to the Ministry of Health, were equipped with 2,460 dialysis machines.