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Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar met with Egyptian-British endocrine surgery expert Ahmed Halawa and a group of specialists to discuss upgrading Egypt’s organ and bone marrow transplant system to international standards.

Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar stated that the meeting focused on strategic proposals to reduce waiting lists and provide better care. The minister ordered the formation of a specialized committee to study legislative amendments aimed at creating a national registry for non-related bone marrow donors.

The meeting also addressed the implementation of a "crossover donation" program for kidney and liver patients via a unified national platform.

This system aims to overcome genetic incompatibility between patients and their families while ensuring transparency. Additionally, Abdel Ghaffar directed the preparation of a scientific and legal protocol to launch a thyroid transplant program.

To modernize technical operations, officials agreed on an urgent training plan to shift toward laparoscopic nephrectomy as the standard for licensing kidney transplant centers.

The plan includes a national database to document training programs and leverage the expertise of Egyptian doctors abroad.

The meeting was attended by several high-ranking health officials, while experts from Canada and the United States participated via video conference to discuss tissue compatibility and clinical pathology.

Earlier in April, Egypt released a far-reaching study that found that Egyptians' HLA genes—which govern immune system responses—specifically tie Egyptians to the Levantine-Eastern Mediterranean cluster. This finding is vital for improving the success rates of organ transplants and treating autoimmune diseases locally.

Source: Egypt Today