The Situation of Liver Transplantation Programs in Iran

Abstract

We read with interest the article by Saidi and colleagues on current challenges of liver transplantation (LT) in Iran. The authors have truly pointed out the increasing need for LT in Iran, but some of the issues they raised as challenges need to be looked more carefully.

The authors claimed that there was no national registry for LT in Iran. Indeed Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran (MOHME) has an active registration system in place for all transplanted patients including solid organ transplantation recipients for more than two decades. Despite gradual but progressive improvement of this system, there is still space for improvements. Recently this system has been linked to drug providing system, which further facilitates providing the subsidized immunosuppressive drugs to these patients.