At the Hiwa Cancer Hospital of Sulaymaniyah (Autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan) an Italian medical team has successfully completed the first bone marrow’s transplant in the history of Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. The transplant is the result of a training project addressed to Kurdish health care personnel realized by the Italian non-governmental organization ICU, coordinated by Prof. Majolino, oncologist of the S. Camillo Hospital in Rome, and financed by the Italian Cooperation and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in the framework of the response to the healthcare emergency that hit the Kurdistan region after the consistent flow of Syrian refugees and Iraqi displaced citizens during and after summer 2014.
The transplant was received by a 42 years old man hit by multiple myeloma. The technique used to finalize the transplant consisted in the use of cells from the patient himself and the utilization of sophisticated robots used for the cells’ separation. These robots were already owned by the Kurdish hospital, but only the training offered by Italian doctors made their proper use possible. In the upcoming months, this technique will be applied to fight thalassemia, a disease that is particularly common in the Region.
Prof. Majolino trained an entire team of healthcare assistants and doctors of the Hiwa Cancer Hospital, a modern hospital where cancer patients coming from all over the country are treated freely. Prof. Majolino stated: “During the next months, our Kurdish colleagues will be able to do this complex surgery without any assistance, but we are still going to be at their side”.
The Italian Cooperation has also financed the realization of a large sterilized ward, a medical unit able to host 100 transplants per year, that will be functioning starting from the next days and will represent a precious resource not only for the Kurdistan Region but also for the neighboring territories.
