The Second Homeland of Georgian Babies

The Second Homeland of Georgian Babies

İzmir has become a second homeland for Georgian babies. İZMİR has become a savior for citizens of Georgia, where liver transplants are not performed. After the babies Archil, Mariam, Mate and Otar, who regained their health through liver transplants, 4-year-old Sofia has now joined the queue. Her mother, Şorenna Mkhatvrişvili, who is preparing to give the gift of life to her daughter, said: “I am very excited and hopeful, the examples are so good, I trust Turkish doctors.”

While Organ Transplant Week is held every year between 3 and 9 November by the Ministry of Health to spread organ donation and transplantation and to raise awareness of them, citizens of Georgia, where liver transplants are not performed, have begun coming to İzmir. Türkiye, which is fighting to increase insufficient organ donations through campaigns, has achieved world-standard success in liver transplantation from living donors, and this has influenced the choices of desperate Georgian patients.

İzmir Kent Hospital, which stands out in infant and child liver transplants, also became the address of the second life for 4 Georgian babies who had transplants. It began with little Archil. Archil, the little baby of Mayya and Georgy Mamudlaze from Tbilisi, had a liver transplant at Kent Hospital on 10 August 2009, when he was only 17 months old. The liver transplantation team, made up of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Zeytunlu, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Alper, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Arıkan, Op. Dr. Cahit Yılmaz, Op. Dr. Zafer Önen and Dr. Onur Duygu under the leadership of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Kılıç, won the trust of the Georgian parents. A few months after Archil, the new guest was a 5.5-month-old Georgian baby, Mariam. Archil’s father, Georgy Mamudlaze, reached David Parakkebeshvili, a father who had appeared on a television programme in Georgia to find help for his daughter Mariam, who needed a liver transplant, and gave him a pointer: “Our son was like your daughter, Turkish surgeons saved him, go to İzmir, Türkiye, right away.” Mariam, who came to İzmir with the hope of a new life, also held on to life with the liver transplant performed on 18 December 2009. After Archil and Mariam, 7-month-old Mate Enukidze, a Georgian national, on 6 June 2012, and 18-month-old Otar Ghambashidre, on 10 July 2012, began a brand-new life with the transplantation of liver pieces taken from their living donors. The recovery of the 4 Georgian babies led the Tbilisi couple Şorenna and David Mkhatvrişvili to seek healing in İzmir for their daughter Sofia, aged 4, who has had liver disease since birth. Her mother Mkhatvrişvili, noting that her daughter was diagnosed with liver disease at three months old, said the following:

“For years my daughter was treated in Tbilisi. But a month ago a decision was made for a transplant. Liver transplants are not performed in my country. We started searching. We learned that 4 more babies like my daughter had been transplanted at Kent Hospital and had regained their health. These examples were very important to us. We contacted the doctors right away and came here. I will give a piece of my liver to my daughter. Preparations are under way. I am very excited and hopeful, I trust Turkish doctors.”

Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kılıç said that, as from every region of Türkiye, babies and children as well as adult patients come to their centre for transplants from Azerbaijan and Georgia too. Noting that they have so far carried out transplants for nearly 20 Georgian patients, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kılıç said: “Countries in our near region where liver transplants are not performed have now turned their route towards us. They choose us instead of European countries. Our successful results play a part in this.”