The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) in Riyadh conducted 31 kidney transplant operations on children aged between two and 14 years last year.

Kidney transplant surgeries for children are major that require skill and greater attention of the medical and surgical team before, during and after the surgery, Dr. Hamad Al-Majli, Consultant and Head of the Pediatric Kidney Transplant Department at KFSH&RC, has been quoted as saying by local media.

Genetic diseases, congenital malformation of the urinary tract, inflammation of the renal glomeruli and diseases associated with kidney syndromes necessitate kidney transplant in children, he said.

Thanks to the availability of modern technology and skilled and experienced medical experts, KFSH&RC teams were able to perform 360 kidney transplant cases for children during the last three decades, he said.

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Hasoun, another consultant at KFSH&RC, said that kidney transplant is the best way for a child to lead a normal life emotionally, physically and mentally.

Official data shows that there are 1,300 cases of children suffering from kidney failure, accounting for 10 percent of the total number of such patients, that is 13,000.