DUSHANBE, April 14, 2010, Asia-Plus  — The Republican Research Center for Organ and Tissue Transplantation will be officially opened at the National Institute of Gastroenterology this year, Deputy Health Minister, Sohibnazar Rahmonov, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on April 14.

According to him, the project has been endorsed by all relevant ministries and departments and submitted for consideration to the government.

“The Center specialists will perform kidney and liver transplant operations,” the deputy minister said, adding that today in case of emergency, specialists from the republican Urology Center and the Republican Research Center for Reconstructive Surgery are ready to perform kidney transplant operations.

“To-date, Tajik specialists have preformed 11 operations on transplantation of stem cells,” said he, “The results will become known only after three- and six-month examination of patients.”

Rahmonov noted that every year, some 1,000-1,200 patients are undergoing medical treatment at Tajik hospitals for chronic diseases and some 50 of them needs kidney transplant operation.

“To-date, 43 Tajik nationals have undergone kidney transplant operations outside the country.  In 2008 alone, six of ten Tajiks that underwent kidney transplant operations in China died in six months after the operations,” he stressed.