Israel, UAE to swap kidneys in historic life-saving operation
July 28, 2021
Israelis and Emiratis are swapping kidneys, as a woman in Israel is set to undergo surgery to donate her kidney to a patient in the UAE, while an Emirati will donate a kidney to an Israeli patient, the English daily Khaleej Times reported.
The complex operation will ensure 39-year-old Shani Markowitz will have her kidney safely removed at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, where it will be sent to Abu Dhabi via private plane and be donated to a hospital where a patient is awaiting a transplant. But the plane will promptly fly back to Israel with another kidney aboard, this time from the UAE and it will quickly be delivered to a patient at Israel’s Rambam Health Care Campus.
This incredible live-saving mission heralds another new milestone in the ever-growing ties between Israel and the UAE and is part of the Abraham Accords’ organ donation program.