Kidney Transplant Program

Yes. UHN has implemented all safety precautions and has measures in place to screen all patients, staff and accepted visitors entering our sites for symptoms of COVID-19, providing masks for all staff, clinic patients and essential visitors and pre-screening for COVID-19 for all kidney transplant recipients.

Yes. UHN will continue to offer virtual visits when safe and appropriate to do so, but, in some circumstances, you will be required to attend in person.

• Learn more about virtual visits at UHN »

At this time, it is unclear whether kidney transplant candidates are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. However, we do know that kidney transplant candidates are more likely to suffer severe complications related to COVID-19 once it has been contracted. Therefore, it is very important for transplant candidates and anyone living with them to follow physical distancing rules, practice good hand hygiene, avoid touching your face, keep all surfaces in your home clean and wear a mask when in public.

Yes, the program is slowly increasing activities. Please visit the Soham & Shaila Ajmera Family Transplant Centre for more information.

As we slowly reintroduce our services, the number of surgeries we can perform will gradually increase according to available resources and capacity. Please keep in mind that we are taking a phased approach to reintroduce our services, it is possible that we may experience service interruptions again in the future if COVID-19 resurges. Your care team will be in touch as soon as a date is available. We thank you for your ongoing patience and cooperation.

Yes. All donors are tested for COVID-19 and asked to self-isolate 14 days prior to surgery. Also, living donors are being asked not to travel to high risk areas for at least 14 days before donation and to monitor for symptoms.

We are moving forward with completing living donor candidate workups put on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You will be contacted by the donor team.

Yes. UHN will continue to offer virtual visits when safe and appropriate to do so but, in some circumstances, you will be required to attend in person.

• Learn more about virtual visits at UHN »

Yes. UHN has implemented all safety precautions and has measures in place to screen all patients, staff and accepted visitors entering our sites for symptoms of COVID-19, providing masks for all staff, clinic patients and essential visitors and pre-screening for COVID-19 for all kidney transplant recipients.

We are now receiving and reviewing new donor health questionnaires.

The donor evaluation typically takes 6 months on average to complete. Since kidney transplant surgeries were put on hold earlier this year due to COVID-19, we suspect the process from submitting the health history form to being cleared for donation will take longer than the average time prior to COVID-19.

The hospital has taken all precautions to reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure to patients admitted to the Transplant units. This includes COVID-19 testing of all living donor candidates and recipients at the time of admission, ensuring transplant recipients and living donors are not on the same ward as patients with COVID-19, and vigilant cleaning and disinfection measures. We have also implemented additional precautions practiced by all health care staff including physical distancing measures (at least 2 metres distance), reminders of hand hygiene, and a universal masking policy are in place.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept applicants from outside of Canada at this time.

No. Being a living donor does not put you at greater risk than the general population of getting COVID-19.

• Our first priority will be to reschedule living donor kidney transplants that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• We will also start moving forward with both recipient and living donor candidate workups that were near completion when we reduced our services.
• Our next priority is to address all ongoing workups, along with new recipient and living donor candidate referrals as we receive them.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, it is important to note that UHN is not returning to business as usual, and will reintroduce services in a way that balances patient needs, public health measures to support staff and patient safety, and ensures there is reserved capacity for any potential surge in COVID-19 patients. At this time, the number of time slots available for living donor kidney transplants will be less than before the pandemic started. We thank you for your ongoing patience and cooperation as we reintroduce our services under these new circumstances.

Unlike kidney patients who have access to life-saving dialysis treatment, liver patients are at risk of imminent death if they do not get a liver transplant. This risk must be weighed against the risk of COVID-19 and its complications.

At this time, we are only assessing potential donors that were undergoing evaluation prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you were in evaluation prior to the pandemic and are out of province, your coordinator will contact you about the details of your assessment. Provincial guidelines may affect when and if donors can travel to Ontario.

Please note: Donors coming from another province are required to self-isolate for 14 days prior to their living donor surgery with the exception of appointments needed for their workup (provided they are asymptomatic).

Donors coming from outside of Canada need to self-isolate for 14 days prior to any appointments or surgery at Toronto General Hospital.

At this time, we are only considering Kidney Paired Donation (KPD) chains that involve local recipients and donors. We will reassess participation in the national KPD program in September.

Visitors at UHN are currently restricted. Please check our COVID-19 page for the latest information.