Expansion of the existing living donor kidney transplant numbers performed at Arabkir Medical Center, Yerevan

Previously: Around ten transplants a year are performed at the Arabkir Medical Centre, a Government Hospital in Yerevan- this is the only transplanting centre in Armenia. All transplants are currently from living donors, as there is no deceased donation in Armenia at present.

 To date: in October 2017, two guy’s transplant surgeons, Professor Nizam Mamode & Miriam Manook introduced laparoscopic living donor surgical techniques to our counterparts in Armenia

 Ultimately: our goal by the end of three years is to increase the programme size to a minimum of 30 transplants per year, in order to maintain the experience of medical, surgical and anaesthetic teams.

Education & awareness of transplantation, focussing on deceased donor transplantation

Previously: kidney transplantation has been happening in Armenia since the early 1990’s, however this small living donor program is based in a paediatric hospital, the Arabkir Medical Center.

To date: a series of lectures & meetings about transplantation in the UK, and the expertise at Guy’s.

Ultimately: our goal is to engage with members of the public, medical students & nephrology & intensive care clinicians across the whole of Armenia with respect to the transplant opportunities for both living & deceased donation.

Develop national infrastructure around deceased donor identification, management & allocation

Previously: legislation relating to deceased donation has been approved in the Armenian Parliament

To date: discussions with intensive care units and possible adult transplant centers have been had.

Ultimately: We plan to provide education & training for clinicians from Armenian to spend time with professionals at NHSBT to understand the national infrastructure & governance mechanisms in the UK. On their return to Armenia, it is anticipated that a national waiting list of potential recipients for kidney transplantation will be developed, as well as matching and allocation criteria. Intensive care doctors will be educated regarding donor eligibility assessment and brainstem death testing amongst intensivists in Yerevan. By 2021, we aim to have launched a deceased donor transplant program in Armenia.