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Rabat – The Mohammed VI Foundation for Science and Health announced on Tuesday in Casablanca that it has successfully carried out the first kidney transplant in Africa between a donor and recipient with different ABO blood types.
This medical achievement was made possible through close coordination between several hospital departments, including anesthesia and intensive care, nephrology, urology, hematology, medical biology, especially immunology, the Mohammed VI Blood Transfusion Center, and a vascular surgery team.
The procedure also received scientific support from Professor Lionel Rostaing, an expert in ABO-incompatible kidney transplants.
Professor Abdelbar Oubaaz, Director General of a hospital under the Mohammed VI Foundation in Casablanca, said this operation is a first both in Morocco and across Africa. He explained that its success was due to the human, technical, and organizational resources available at the institution.
He noted that the main challenge in such surgeries lies in preparing the patient before the transplant, which requires cooperation between experts in several medical fields, including hematology, immunology, nephrology, urology, and vascular surgery.
The Moroccan medical team also received assistance from a well-known French professor to ensure the best conditions before surgery, Oubaaz added. He noted that the transplant itself was carried out entirely by Moroccan doctors.
Oubaaz said the patient’s condition is showing positive signs, adding that this success offers new hope to many patients who depend on dialysis.
Doctor Ramdani Benyounes, head of the nephrology department at the foundation’s hospitals, spoke of the strategic importance of this progress, noting that around a quarter of patients needing kidney transplants are not compatible with their donor’s ABO blood type.
He explained that the patient underwent a month-long preparation period, followed by intensive monitoring during the critical first weeks after the surgery.
“We are now on the sixteenth day after the transplant. The patient has normal kidney function and has completely stopped dialysis, which gives us hope that the kidney will work for many years and allow her to return to a normal life,” he concluded.
