Why the UAE’s next chapter in transplantation depends on building an integrated system around patients, donors, and lifelong care
By Dr. Bashir Sankari, MD, Transplant Director of the Urology Department within Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Surgical Institute.
The success of an organ transplant depends on much more than the surgery itself. It begins long before a patient enters the operating theatre and continues long after they leave it. Successful transplantation requires organ donation awareness at a community level, an effective donor registration system, clinical expertise, advanced technology, and coordinated care that continues throughout a patient’s life.
Every transplant ultimately begins with the decision to donate. Hayat – the National Program for Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues – has established a framework for organ and tissue donation and transplantation in the UAE, while specialist programs have expanded the country’s ability to care for patients with complex organ failure.
The continued growth of the national donor registry will depend on sustained public awareness and, more importantly, trust. People need clear information about organ donation, how the system operates, and the impact their decision to register as a donor can have. Clinical capability alone cannot create a successful transplant system – donor registration must grow alongside it.
For recipients, transplantation is not a single intervention. The clinical journey often begins with extensive multidisciplinary assessment before surgery, followed by careful monitoring for rejection and infection, medication management, rehabilitation, and ongoing management of overall health.
This requires surgeons, physicians, nurses, transplant coordinators, pharmacists, and rehabilitation specialists to work as one integrated team around the patient. The importance of what an integrated model adds becomes even clearer after transplantation, when maintaining the health of a transplanted organ may depend on years of careful follow-up.
Technology can extend these capabilities further. Advances in robotic-assisted transplantation, for instance, demonstrate how surgical innovation can support increasingly complex procedures while reducing the physical burden of surgery for a patient. Robotic approaches are less invasive and enable greater surgical precision, with the potential to reduce bleeding and the overall physical impact of major surgery. However, innovation should not be pursued only because a technology is new. Ultimately, its value should be judged by whether it improves safety, recovery, and long-term outcomes for patients.
Building advanced transplant capability in the UAE also means more patients can receive highly complex care, closer to home. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, a Department of Health – Abu Dhabi designated Center of Excellence in Adult Multi-Organ Transplants is one example of how the UAE has developed local capacity for highly complex transplant care. Patients who may previously have travelled to Europe or the United States can increasingly access specialist treatment within the UAE, reducing the financial and logistical burden associated with seeking care abroad, while remaining close to their families and support networks.
From a wider healthcare-system perspective, developing complex care locally helps retain healthcare investment in the UAE, while building specialist expertise, infrastructure, and research capability for the future. Over time, these capabilities can also strengthen the UAE’s role as a regional (and eventually international) destination for patients whose transplant conditions require highly specialized, multidisciplinary care.
There is an important distinction between building transplant capacity and building a transplant system. The former is about whether an operation can be performed; the latter is about whether patients can move through an effective, equitable, and sustainable pathway from diagnosis and donor matching through surgery, recovery, and lifelong follow-up. The UAE now has an opportunity to focus increasingly on that wider system.
The future of transplantation in the UAE should be measured by more than the number or complexity of procedures performed. It should be measured by the strength of the system as a whole – greater public awareness and donor registration, deep clinical expertise, responsible adoption of advanced technology, lifelong patient support, and continued investment in healthcare professionals and research.
Connecting these elements will be essential to improving outcomes for individual patients and creating a transplant system capable of serving the UAE and the wider region, for generations to come.
For those considering organ donation, the Hayat National Program provides information on organ donation, answers to common questions, and the option to register as a donor through the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s official channels.
