HONOLULU- After the sudden closure of Hawaii’s only organ transplant hospital at Hawaii Medical Center East in Liliha, The Queen’s Medical Center is racing against the clock to quickly certify a new program.
“I think best case scenario would be two months,” said Queen’s transplant surgeon Dr. Linda Wong, who announced the hospital’s new program during a Tuesday press conference. However Wong admitted the certification process could take as long as six months.
Queen’s announced the new initiative only a few days after HMC announced it would begin shutting down both of its hospitals in Ewa and Liliha after a deal to sell the facilities fell through.
Right now 424 patients in Hawaii are on a waiting list to receive a kidney, liver, pancreas or heart. With the closing of the HMC program, the only option for those in need of an organ is to travel to a mainland hospital.
“They have to go up to the mainland to be evaluated and tested (and) then they get placed on the wait list,” said Queen’s transplant surgeon Dr. Whitney Limm, who also attended Tuesday’s press conference.
Before it could perform its first transplant, Queen’s must clear federal and state regulatory hurdles. The hospital must apply for certification with the United Network for Organ Sharing, obtain a Certificate of Need from the state, and win approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“We're going to work to try and expedite this as much as we can in terms of getting the regulatory issues in order,” said Wong.
However, at least two unidentified liver patients couldn’t wait for the hospital to complete its certification process. Both are attempting to get liver transplants on the mainland.
“We have air ambulanced one of them out and probably (are) going to air ambulance another one out,” said Wong.
As hundreds of transplant patients in Hawaii remain in limbo after HMC’s announced closing, all organs donated and harvested in Hawaii will go elsewhere.
“We did have a donor this weekend and the kidney ended up going to New York,” said Limm. “Without a program here those organs will be going to the mainland.”
Queen’s estimates its new organ transplant program will cost $7 to $8 million over the next five years. The hospital has six transplant surgeons that had worked closely with counterparts at HMC East. Queen’s plans on hiring an additional ten to fifteen people as support staff for the program.
The hospital must also find additional office space for the program, which will be used primarily to store patient files and medical records.
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