Four kidney patients have successfully undergone transplants at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra.

This was revealed by the hospital in a statement.

The kidney transplant team from the KBTH was made up of kidney specialists, Dr Vincent Bioma and Dr Dwomoa Adu, and led by surgeons Dr Bernard Morton and Dr James Edward Mensah.

The patients, all of whom are doing well, include a female and three males.

Healthy family members donated a kidney each to the four patients to give the recipients a chance to live a normal life again without dialysis.

In the statement issued by the Public Relations Department, the hospital explained that the operation was done using a keyhole surgery technique that does not require the patients staying long in the hospital.

The statement said: “Each donor is assessed before the operation to make sure that they are fit and well, and able to safely donate one of their kidneys. The donated kidney is then implanted into the relative with kidney failure, who has to take medications to prevent rejection.”

Kidney failure, which is preventable, is common in Ghana, and often caused by high blood pressure or diabetes.

The statement said: “Without a transplant, a patient with end-stage kidney failure must rely on many hours of kidney dialysis per week to survive”.

According to the statement, several patients have been beneficiaries of transplants since the hospital began working with the Transplant Links Team in 2008.

The cost of feeding, airfare and accommodation of the transplant team from the UK was funded fully by the First Sky Group.

The Kidney transplant programme was revived by the CEO of the hospital, Dr Daniel Asare, with the aim of building local capacity so that kidney transplant becomes a “routine procedure that our surgeons perform.”