During the third week of November, the Guy’s Hospital Transplant team came to Mauritius on a work visit to help to get the local kidney transplant programme reactivated. Kidney transplantlation in Mauritius came to a halt in 2016 with the retirement of the two local transplant surgeons.
This visit was organised by the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW). The team consisted of Professor of Transplant Surgery Nizam Mamode of Mauritius parentage and Mauritius born Transplant Research Fellow Mr Benedict Phillips.
The four full working days consisted of meeting the Honourable Minister Dr K Jagutpal and appraising the potential transplant wards, operating theatres and the diagnostic facilities. There were meetings with various stakeholders and last but not least, workshops on legal framework and clinical protocols and pathways with senior MOHW officials and nephrologists (Dr K Fagoonee, Dr S Gaya, Dr D Ip).
The Guy’s Transplant team are also very eager to help with training local doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians. The local team will need to do further groundwork to meet their high standards before they can come over. Their plan is to help for a few years until the local team becomes autonomous.
Renal Association of Mauritius 