Our patients for kidney and stem cell transplantation will no longer be sent abroad, announced today the Director of the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG), Aleksandar Radović.
The KCCG announced that he said this at today's press conference at that health institution, organized to celebrate the continuation of the transplant program in Montenegro.
The health institution said yesterday that a press conference will be held today on the occasion of the first hematopoietic stem cell transplant performed at the KCCG and the fact that, after a pause of several years, a kidney transplant from a living donor was performed at the KCCG, with the support of colleagues from the Military Medical Academy (MMA) in Belgrade.
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At today's press conference, Radović expressed his satisfaction that the living donor kidney transplantation program has continued at the KCCG and added that the patient is feeling well.
"Regarding the stem cell transplant, it was performed last Monday and the patient is also feeling well. The idea to start implementing this program was born a few years ago, the process of educating both doctors and nurses began in 2023," said Radović, adding that it was implemented in cooperation with colleagues from the Military Medical Academy.
"Our patients for kidney and stem cell transplants will no longer be sent abroad and I think it is a great benefit for them to be treated at home," Radović emphasized.
The KCCG statement says that he thanked everyone who participated in the implementation of the aforementioned transplantation procedures.
"What I have to say for the public to know is that a kidney obtained from a living relative is of higher quality and longer lasting. Unfortunately, not all of our patients have the opportunity to receive an organ from a living related donor, so we have to develop this cadaveric cadaveric transplantation program," Radović emphasized.
Minister of Health Vojislav Šimun said at the same conference that a transplant program has been established in Montenegro in two areas.
"For the first time in the history of Montenegrin healthcare, at the beginning of last week, a bone marrow stem cell transplant was performed at the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG), which is used in the treatment of severe hematological oncological diseases and for which patients have so far been referred abroad for this type of treatment. In addition, a kidney transplant from a living donor was successfully performed yesterday, which re-established the transplantation program for kidney patients," said Šimun.
He pointed out that both procedures are practically postulates of transplantation medicine, which, as he said, represents the crown of contemporary modern medicine.
"What we are showing with these steps is that we are adapting our healthcare system to the most modern standards and we are striving to be side by side with those highly developed centers in the region and in the world. The process of establishing these transplantation programs was very intensive, arduous, and required the adaptation of legislation, the formation of expert teams, which ensured that this process was of high quality and successful, as well as the provision of the necessary medical equipment and medicines for these procedures. In order to achieve this process, intensive and high-quality cooperation was necessary between the Ministry of Health and all other competent institutions, such as the KCCG, the Blood Transfusion Institute, Montefarm, but also our partner in this process, the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade (VMA)," said Šimun.
Speaking about the importance of bone marrow stem cell transplantation in the treatment of the most serious hematological diseases, Šimun said that the transplantation procedure was preceded by technological and technical, as well as personnel, adaptation of the Blood Transfusion Institute, which opened the first stem cell bank, then the collection and storage of stem cells at the Institute, and also, in cooperation with colleagues from the Military Medical Academy, the training of the staff of the Hematology Clinic within the KCCG who carried out this procedure.
The KCCG states that kidney transplants, after a break since 2019, were initiated in cooperation with the MMA expert team and KCCG staff, and according to Šimun, the contract that KCCG concluded with the MMA, in addition to the implementation of transplantation procedures, also placed emphasis on the education of staff, so that they can be trained to independently implement this program as soon as possible.
"The Ministry of Health has previously established appropriate cooperation with the Minsk Institute for cadaveric donors. However, what is necessary for a quality donor program is to develop a cadaveric program here. We are working intensively on implementing a public campaign that will promote donation, but we also need the help of the media, citizens and society as a whole," emphasized Šimun.
When it comes to bone marrow stem cell transplants, Šimun said that they don't stop there.
"The plan is, with the adequate establishment of a registry and database of potential donors and the construction of a new hematology facility with a PET CT center, during the next year, to provide all the necessary conditions for other types of bone marrow stem cell transplantation," announced Šimun.
He said that the first very significant steps have been taken for Montenegrin healthcare and expressed his expectation that Montenegro will develop a high-quality and sustainable transplantation program.
The KCCG announced that the head of the expert team for liver and kidney transplantation at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, Prof. Dr. Darko Mirković, who participated in the kidney transplantation operation at the KCCG, said that the measure of the value and expertise of a health system is reflected in its ability to establish and implement a transplantation program, and that he was convinced that the KCCG and the Montenegrin health system are fully capable of performing these most complex, most advanced and most demanding procedures in the treatment of patients.
"Here, there are all the conditions for patients with problems - kidney disease in the first phase, and hopefully liver disease later, with the addition that patients with heart disease will also have a great chance of being cured in this institution in the future," said Mirković.
He also said that a very important aspect of transplant medicine is the development of awareness about cadaveric donation, and that the help of citizens and society as a whole is crucial on this path.
Emphasizing the complexity and success of transplantation procedures, from which, first and foremost, patients benefit the most, for whom this is the only form of treatment, Mirković emphasized "that through such a system, patients return to their work responsibilities, and what is perhaps most important for all of us, they gain a new quality of life, or a new life, to the general satisfaction of their families."
He expressed satisfaction with the cooperation between the Military Medical Academy, the Croatian Center for Medical Education and Culture and the entire healthcare system, with a clear perspective for further joint engagement.
Director of the Internal Medicine Clinic of the Croatian Cancer Center, Dr. Vesko Vujičić, recalled that the development of the stem cell transplantation program, which is the only way to cure the most serious hematological diseases, began two and a half years ago.
He emphasized that this complex procedure was independently carried out by the team of the KCCG Hematology Center, with the support of the Blood Transfusion Institute and the Center for Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics.
"When it comes to stem cell transplantation, we have had about 10 to 15 patients sent abroad annually, and a significant number of them to the Military Medical Academy. The actual transplantation was performed on Monday, February 17, but the transplantation preparation began a month earlier," said Vujičić, adding that apheresis has already been performed for three more patients, so, as he announced, stem cell transplantations are continuing at the KCCG Hematology Center.
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