RIUT made partially operational

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will formally inaugurate hospital soon

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant (RIUT), a mega healthcare project that had been pending for the past 10 years, has finally been made partially operational.

In the first phase, the dialysis department has been activated, while the second phase will see the Emergency Department and the Outpatient Department (OPD) becoming operational. Kidney transplants will be initiated in the third phase of the project being made functional.

The lithotripsy machine, used to remove stones from the kidney through radiation, is among the 30 machines that have been made functional for the dialysis unit.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will formally inaugurate the hospital soon.

On the instructions of Commissioner Rawalpindi Noorul Amin Mengal, Vice Chancellor Rawalpindi Medical University Prof Dr Muhammad Umar was briefed by Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Tahir Rizvi at the premises and the dialysis department was made operational.

Mengal said that the Punjab government's promise to provide basic healthcare to the people has entered the final stages of fulfillment.

Dr Umar said that patients will be provided free-of-cost dialysis facilities through machines with the latest technology.

While talking to patients and their families, the Vice Chancellor inquired about the facilities in the hospital and issued strict instructions to the hospital administration to provide complete facilities to the patients.

The foundation stone of RIUT was laid by then Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif in 2012, but the project did not take off until now.

The 250-bed RIUT building also suffered from the slow pace of civil works during the previous government, while the complete transfer of the building to the health department is also pending.

Sources said that RIUT can achieve success only if it will run on the model of Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology. Financial independence and a professional environment free from any kind of interference will be essential, they added.

At present, the urology department of Benazir Bhutto General Hospital is functioning on a limited scale, in which the 35-member urology and kidney transplant expert team headed by Head of Department Prof Dr Zainul Amir has completed four successful kidney transplant operations so far.

Preparations for the fifth patient's kidney transplant have been completed and cases of four patients for the same have been sent to Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (PHOTA) for approval.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2022.