A 19-member Turkish medical delegation from Türkiye has arrived in Senegal to lead planned kidney transplant operations, contributing to the development of the country’s organ transplant capacity.
The team reached Dakar on Thursday with the support of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and the Ministry of Trade, under the coordination of the Turkish Organ Transplant Foundation. The initiative aims to strengthen medical infrastructure and share expertise in organ transplantation.
The visit is carried out within the framework of a cooperation protocol signed in 2017 between Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action and the Turkish Organ Transplant Foundation. Since the agreement, efforts have focused on building capacity and preparing local health institutions for transplant procedures.
As part of this year’s program, Turkish physicians provided training on patient selection as well as preoperative and postoperative follow-up processes ahead of the planned surgeries.
Following the training, the 19-member delegation, including surgeons, nephrologists, anesthesiologists, nurses and organ transplant coordinators, completed preparations at Ouakam Military Hospital in Dakar. The planned operations aim to transplant kidneys taken from living donors into patients under the close supervision of Turkish doctors.
Throughout all stages of the procedures, Turkish physicians will work alongside local health care teams to ensure the process is carried out safely and effectively. The delegation will also lead Senegal’s first kidney transplant surgeries using a laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, method with living donors.
As part of the program, the Turkish health team visited Ouakam Military Hospital as well as Idrissa Pouye Hospital and Dalal Jamm Hospital. The delegation also attended a meeting of the National Donation and Transplant Council and conducted on-site assessments of work in bone marrow transplantation, cornea transplantation and eye banking.
