The Taiz transplant team looking to begin a medical revolution in Yemen

A young girl lies in a hospital bed in Taiz, southwest Yemen, recovering from surgery to treat her atrial septal defect (ASD), better known as “hole in the heart”.

“May I take a picture of you?” a visitor asks. She smiles, slowly adjusts her position, and gets ready for the photo.

Ten-year-old Noor Majid has had ASD since birth. Her condition leads to constant breathing problems and chronic exhaustion. It is hoped the surgery will help her live a life similar to that of other girls her age.

Noor was one of 110 children from different parts of Yemen being treated for free at the Cardiac and Vascular Diseases and Kidney Transplant Center in Taiz between May 16 and 21.

The Catheterization and Complex Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Camp, which undertook the treatment, is a multi-national effort, involving medical teams from across the world and supported by the Qatar Charity and the Qatar Red Crescent.

Surgeries on the children were performed by Qatari, Arab and French doctors from Qatar’s Sidra Medicine, one of the world’s leading cardiology hospitals, with the input of consultant doctors from across Yemen.

Professor Abudar al-Ganadi, who has headed the Cardiac and Vascular Diseases and Kidney Transplant Center since it was founded in Taiz in July 2021, told Al Jazeera that the camp marks a major accomplishment for the medical sector in Yemen.

“This is the largest medical camp in the country where complex operations of this kind are performed in this number and within such a critical period of time,” he said.

Since it was established just five years ago, the facility has come to be known as one of Yemen’s most significant medical achievements in recent times.

Despite the country’s ongoing war, the facility has conducted 164 kidney transplants, 1,450 open-heart surgeries, nearly 4,000 vascular operations, 4,340 catheterization procedures, and 1,500 urology operations since it opened its doors to patients.

Those who have benefited most are Yemenis with cardiovascular and kidney conditions who are unable to afford operations or transplants abroad. With no relevant treatment at home, the facility has become a literal lifesaver for hundreds of patients in Yemen.

Last month, the body announced it had carried out the first three liver transplants, which won international attention and could be the first step towards a sustainable programme of treatment of liver conditions in Yemen.

Professor al-Ganadi cautions that only time will determine the success of these operations, but he hopes the results will be positive.

“We launched this [liver transplant] programme quietly and cautiously with two cases, then a third one, and we will continue gradually. We will not announce preliminary results until after 10 transplants, then 50, just as we did with the cardiac programme,” he said.

Taiz has suffered more than most parts of Yemen, with a siege and shelling seeing the city’s health system become one of the first to collapse during the war. That is why the emergence of the facilty in his besieged, exhausted city is being treated as a miracle.

Dr Nader al-Hammadi, a resident physician in the cardiovascular surgery unit, said the fact that Yemenis can now receive treatment at home saves costs and time for patients.

“The patient used to suffer from the complications of travelling abroad to undergo open heart surgery, whether for coronary artery bypasses or mechanical valves,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The cost of such operations abroad could reach approximately $20,000 in addition to the costs of travel, accommodation, and living expenses. Meanwhile, the same operation is performed at the cardiovascular centre in Taiz for only $5,000, of which the patient pays just $2,000. The rest is covered by benefactors such as the Hayel Saeed Anam Group, Al-Zailai Company, Al-Kuraimi Bank, and others.”

The facility has now performed 1,500 open-heart surgeries, giving valuable experience to surgeons and lifesaving, affordable care to patients.

“It is certain that 1,000 of those would have been done abroad if the centre had not opened,” al-Hammadi adds.

“There are even operations that are not performed abroad, such as minimally invasive heart procedures, in which we are distinguished and of which we have done 220 cases. Many expatriates are therefore compelled to travel to us to have them done.”

For Professor al-Ganadi, establishing a medical unit to treat heart conditions in his hometown of Taiz has been a dream since he returned home in 2009 from his studies at Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University in Russia.

He faced myriad challenges working towards this, but his resolution and patience stand as an inspiring success story for a generation in Yemen who have seen their hopes and dreams dashed for a decade by war.

In April 2018, equally frustrated and exhausted by the war, Professor al-Ganadi, the only cardiovascular surgery consultant in Taiz, left for Saudi Arabia to work at King Fahad Medical City.

But then, in July 2021, he received a phone call from Taiz’s governor, who asked him if he still wished to establish a cardiovascular centre in the city. The governor said that if he was, he needed to return home immediately.

In Taiz, he found that only two floors of the devastated Republican Hospital could be used, while the only catheterization machine, used to treat cardiac conditions, was also out of service.

Still, al-Ganadi persisted and managed to get the support of private sector entities to begin the difficult process of creating the Cardiac and Vascular Diseases and Kidney Transplant Center from a concept into a reality.

“We started from zero, but we always had the Hayel Saeed Anam Group standing by us when needed,” he said, referring to the multinational corporation that has provided consistent support to Yemen’s healthcare teams during the war.

“They agreed to provide us with all the cardiac surgery equipment and supplies belonging to Yemen International Hospital, which was the largest and best in Taiz before it shut down in 2015 because of the war.”

After performing between three and five surgeries a month in the first year of its operations, the Cardiac and Vascular Diseases and Kidney Transplant Center now carries out 500 operations a month. This includes 50 adult cardiac surgeries, 70 vascular surgeries, and 300 cardiac catheterization procedures.

When it opened, it had just six beds on the first floor. Today, it has 131 beds, including 23 dedicated to intensive care, allowing it to treat more patients in Yemen.

“During the centre’s first year, we did 60 open heart surgeries; today, we perform 60 in a single month. That means it is the largest centre in Yemen performing open heart operations,” al-Ganadi added.

“I was influenced by Russian thinking, I learned from them how you can start from zero and work inside a building that is destroyed with windows that have no glass. We have earned trust, but the dream is not yet complete. Challenges, just like ambition, never end.”