Dubai is set to open the region’s first ever ‘skin bank’ to help treat burn victims and trauma patients of similar cases.
The CEO of Dubai Healthcare Corporation (DHC) Dr. Younis Kazim said that the initiative was started by the doctors from Rashid Hospital plastic surgery department.
“We should be ready with the [skin] bank by mid of 2019,” he said, as the DHC is in the process of setting up the new facility.
Burn victims and trauma patients across Dubai will benefit from the new skin bank, which will store excess skin surgically obtained from healthy donors. “The skin will be taken from foreigners and nationals here in the UAE and used for other sick people who may need a skin graft,” Dr. Kazim told The National.
According to him, all skin grafts are carried out in Rashid Hospital and 90 percent of which are burn cases. To date, the hospital has been using synthetic skin for skin grafting and treating burn cases.
“Until now we have been throwing away perfectly good skin that could have been used. For example in cases of bariatric surgery, sometimes, people lose up to 100 kilos, and this extra skin, instead of being thrown away, will now be kept in incubators for depending on its need for between 20 days, three months or more,” he added.
Moreover, the department is also eyeing to expand UAE residents’ health insurance coverage to include such treatments, as reported by Khaleej Times. “Once the skin bank is set up, we will consider including it in the insurance scheme,” said Dr Kazim.
Note: Photo from WAM
