Quoted by Al-Riyadh newspaper, KFSH&RC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Qasim Al-Qasabi said some of these programs achieved higher rates in terms of number of organ transplant operations compared to last year.

He said liver transplant operations had jumped by 93 percent compared to last year, whereas lung and bone operations increased by 70 and 116 percent respectively.

Al-Qasabi said the costs of conducting the six programs at KFSH&RC stood at more than SR387 million compared to over SR1.156 billion if conducted in the US, where, accordingly, some SR768 million was saved by doing these operations in the Kingdom.

KFSH&RC, equipped with highly qualified cadres in addition to advanced infrastructure, carried out those operations and, subsequently, raised the rates of surgeries by 80 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, Al-Qasabi pointed out.