Lee Health announced the Lee Health Transplant Institute at Gulf Coast Medical Center is temporarily and voluntarily inactivating its deceased donor kidney program, effective August 16, 2018. This inactive period is due to a temporary lack of surgical availability, and the program plans to reactive in early December 2018. During this temporary inactivation period the transplant clinic will remain open, and patients will continue to receive their pre and post-transplant nephrology care at Gulf Coast Medical Center.
“Patient safety is always the top priority at our transplant institute and I am proud of our 100% transplant success rate since the program reopened last year. All of our patients will continue to receive compassionate pre and post-transplant care and treatment, and we are dedicated to helping our current patients transfer their wait list time to active transplant centers should they choose to do so,” said Scott Nygaard, M.D., Lee Health Chief Operating Officer.
All patients of the kidney transplant clinic have been notified of the inactivation period via mail, and Lee Health has staff available to assist in transferring wait list time to any active transplant center in the state. Patients were also provided with a list of active centers and information from the United Network for Organ Sharing.
The transplant team will continue to evaluate patients for potential future transplantation, and those who have decided to transfer their waitlist time to another location will be able to transfer it back to Lee Health upon program reactivation.
