Zambia Builds Local kidney transplant Capacity With U.S. Surgical Training Program
WORLD NEWS – ZAMBIA: Zambia is accelerating its capacity to perform kidney transplants through a focused skills-transfer partnership with American surgical teams. The American College of Surgeons has been sending visiting transplant surgeons to work alongside clinicians at the university teaching hospital’s adult facility, embedding hands-on surgical training and building the technical backbone for local transplantation services.
The national nephrology coordinator at the Ministry of Health described steady progress: eight training visits have already taken place this year, and the current round will bring the total to eleven. That tally illustrates a deliberate, staged program designed to shift complex care into Zambian hands and to keep health spending inside the country rather than on treatment abroad in places such as India, South Africa, or the United Kingdom.
A visiting U.S. transplant surgeon, Dr. Amilu, portrayed the effort as a pathway to self-sufficiency once both operative technique and the post-operative medical management are established domestically. The initiative emphasizes not only the surgical steps of kidney transplant but also the critical follow-up: immunosuppression management, monitoring, and multidisciplinary coordination. The training strategy aims for local teams to take over both the procedures and the long-term care of transplant recipients.
Consultant urologist Dr. Basani said the exchange has granted valuable experience, exposure, and clinical support to the hospital’s staff, and expressed appreciation for the partnership. With continued knowledge exchange and incremental skill-building at the teaching hospital, Zambia’s renal transplantation program is presented as moving from dependency toward an autonomous service capable of offering lifesaving kidney transplants at home.
