SIUT celebrates 40 years of free medical treatment

Speakers praised the institution and its founder for being a model of dedication

KARACHI:

Civil society activists, educationists and prominent writers lauded the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) for its 40 years of service for the people of Pakistan. They urged the government to replicate SIUT's model in other parts of the country.

"It is all because of dedicated and committed leadership," commented former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Ishrat Husain. SIUT provides state-of-the-art treatment, conducts research and hosts training sessions for doctors and supporting staff, he said. It provides a service to the people, Dr Husain added.



Speaking at a seminar titled 'Civil Society's Perception about SIUT' on Friday, Dr Husain urged the participants to play their role. Do something in your domain and we'll have more people like Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi, he added.

"The people at SIUT are defending the rights to life and the rights of patients," said IA Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Rehman said most of people in Pakistan change their lifestyle and move to posh areas when they become richer. "They don't look at poor people," he claimed, adding that civil society has expectations from SIUT. "You have given a new dimension to the treatment of such patients," he said. "In many countries, there are only two options: do or die," said SIUT founder Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi. "We opted for the third option: to serve humanity."





SIUT, true to its philosophy, never turned away any patient who was in need of medical care, he said as he thanked the community, the Sindh government and donors who helped the institution make significant progress with each passing year.

Dr Rizvi said that over 50 per cent of people in Pakistan live below the poverty line and neither the government nor the patients can pay the cost of the treatment they need. Education and health are lower priorities of the government, according to him.

Educationist Prof Arfa Syeda Zehra praised SIUT's performance and the dedication of its head, Dr Rizvi. "SIUT stands on the basis of humanity. It serves people without any bias," she added, saying that it is easy to be pious but very difficult to become a civilised person.



Prof Zehra said that Dr Rizvi was one of the luckiest people due to his dedicated team. "I am surprised how you got [so many] like-minded people [in your team]," she commented.

Columnist Zubeida Mustafa said that the people at SIUT are treated equally irrespective of their economic background and that the SIUT teams always reach people in need. "He [Dr Rizvi] didn't hold himself [back] to go to the people of Thatta when there were floods or [to those of] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa," said CEO of the Dawn media group Hameed Haroon.

Even the middle-class in Pakistan cannot afford liver transplant and cancer treatment, he said. He claimed that Dr Rizvi wants to treat more people and is always on the front line when there is any kind of emergency in the country. "He is a model of dedication," he said admiringly. Member of the Sindh Assembly Mehtab Akbar Rashdi urged the government to generously help institutions such as the SIUT, which serve people day and night.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th,  2015.