Kenya’s biggest referral hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital, has performed a laparoscopic kidney transplant, becoming the first public facility in the country to conduct the minimally invasive surgical transplant procedure.
The transplant was performed on 36-year-old Dickson Njoroge, who received a kidney from his cousin.
The procedure uses small incisions to extract and transplant the kidney, aided by specialised tools such as computer-guided magnifying cameras.
It is a departure from traditional open kidney transplants, which require large incisions on kidney recipients and donors.
The hospital says that Kenyans no longer need to travel abroad to undergo the procedure.
Dr Charles Waihenya and Dr Paul Njogu, the lead surgeons, said that the laparoscopic kidney transplant offers multiple benefits, including less pain, less blood loss, faster recovery, lower costs and better aesthetic outcomes.
Laparoscopic kidney transplants are common in many parts of the world but are yet to be widely adopted in African countries due to limitations in health infrastructure and surgical expertise.