130 Kidney Paired Transplants Completed at Saudi Hospital in 2025

A total of 130 kidney paired donation transplants were completed in 2025 at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, representing the highest number performed by a single centre worldwide during the year.

The total surpassed the 94 procedures recorded at the highest-volume centre in the United States and the 73 transplants carried out across 23 centres in Canada during the same period. Since its launch in 2016, the hospital’s kidney paired donation programme has reached a cumulative total of 691 transplants.

Kidney paired donation programmes enable patients who have incompatible donors to exchange donors with other patient–donor pairs, allowing recipients to receive a compatible kidney through coordinated exchange chains.

The programme operates through a single-centre model that integrates compatibility testing, complex transplant coordination and multidisciplinary clinical teams. These include transplant physicians and surgeons, anaesthesiologists, transplant coordinators, nursing teams and histocompatibility laboratory specialists working together to perform simultaneous procedures while maintaining strict safety protocols.

Additional indicators reflect the institution’s broader standing in global healthcare rankings. King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre was ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa and 12th globally among the world’s top 250 academic medical centres for 2026. The hospital was also identified by Brand Finance as the most valuable healthcare brand in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in 2025.

The institution has also appeared in multiple global healthcare lists by Newsweek, including the World’s Best Hospitals 2025, the World’s Best Smart Hospitals 2026 and the World’s Best Specialised Hospitals 2026 rankings.