|
 | | GIVE AND TAKE: The transplants were carried out at once to stop donors backing out. picture used for representation only | Washington: US doctors have carried out what is believed to be the world’s first simultaneous six-way kidney transplant. Six recipients received organs from six donors in operations at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland.
The procedure was made possible after an altruistic donor — neither a friend nor relative of any of the six patients — was found to match one of them.
Five patients had a willing donor whose kidney was incompatible with theirs, but it did match another in the group. This meant that suddenly, there were six people who could receive an organ.
The operations were carried out simultaneously to make sure no-one backed out after their loved one had received a kidney. Recipient Jeanne Heise, whose husband donated to another patient, said more people should know about the system.
“The waiting list for a kidney is very long and too many people die while waiting,” she said. | 
