Chinese surgeons to train local doctors to revive liver transplant surgeries at PIMS

The facility has been nonfunctional for over five years due to acute shortage of trained surgeons and supporting staff

ISLAMABAD: A Chinese delegation of surgeons agreed to conduct liver transplant surgeries at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and train the Pakistani staff to revive the non-operational facility at the hospital.

The Chinese specialists will train Pakistani surgeons, nurses, paramedical and anesthesia staff to recuperate the liver transplant centre at Pims, which had been nonfunctional for over five years due to acute shortage of trained surgeons and supporting staff in the country.

The facility for liver transplant under the unit for hepatobiliary surgery and organ transplant was established in 2010 at Pims with one-time grant of Rs238 million by the then prime minister under the guidance from the Royal Free Hospital London.

However, the unit could only carry out one transplant in 2012 that too was unsuccessful and the facility has been kept closed since then despite the huge demand.



“Machines and equipment in the centre have been lying useless as we don’t have the relevant expertise and trained human resource to carry out successful procedures,” said Pims Executive Director Dr Amjad Mehmood.

“We have been considering various options to make the facility functional again and this is one of them,” he said. “Things are yet to be finalised and modalities will be chalked out with the Chinese officials for this collaboration besides taking formal permission from the government,” he added, hoping the latest effort would bear fruit.

The delegation visited all departments including emergency, outpatient department and operation theatres and held meeting with Dr Amjad and Pims Joint-ED Dr Ejaz Qadeer. A strategy to carry out the plan is expected to be chalked out in meetings with the hospital administration and surgical department on Wednesday.



In 2016, a summary for hiring of trained liver transplant surgeons, hepatologist, anesthetist, and intensive care specialists on market-based salary from Shifa International Hospital was forwarded to the prime minister but failed to get his nod.

Currently, only the Shifa hospital offers liver transplant in the federal capital, but it costs more than 30 to 40,000 rupees. Earlier, patients used to go to India for liver transplants, but due to visa issues and strained relations between the two countries, the patients have now been opting to go to China.

According to Pims officials, more than 500 patients suffering from hepatitis C, B or other liver related ailments need transplant in a year, but due to lack of any such facility at one of the biggest tertiary care hospitals, they do not recommend or offer it to the needy patients.

Pakistan has the second-highest hepatitis C disease burden in the world that causes acute and chronic liver disease. According to a national hepatitis survey, in 2008 there were eight million cases of hepatitis C and four million of hepatitis B in Pakistan. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates it more than 13 million, as many people are unaware that they are infected.

The patient needs liver transplant when Hepatitis B or C is complicated and it damages liver, which is termed “dcompensated Cirrhosis’.  It is also recommended if a patient develops liver failure or when a patient develops liver cancer.