Youth gets elderly father’s kidney

An elderly man donated his kidney to his 35-year-old son during a successful kidney transplant performed in the urology department of Benazir Bhutto General Hospital. Waqas, who was admitted to the hospital after his both kidneys failed, got a new lease of life because of his father.

The Urology department of BBH has done six successful kidney transplants so far despite limited resources. Cases of five more kidney transplant patients are under process.

60-year-old Riasat from Murree brought his son Waqas to the hospital. The patient was admitted to the Urology Department of Benazir Bhutto General Hospital for treatment for failure of both kidneys.

After a check-up and necessary tests, the doctors told the elderly man that his son would be cured by a kidney transplant as dialysis wouldn’t solve the problem now. His father decided to donate one kidney to his son.

A team comprising Dr Zeeshan Qadeer, Dr Yasir and Dr Saadat Hashmi handled the case under the supervision of Prof Dr Zain Aamir. Even though the donor was over-aged, Riasat was allowed to donate his kidney under the Extended Donors Programme. At present, both the father and the son, are doing well.

The donor had to pay only Rs120,000 for the transplant at BBGH except for tissue matching and other necessary tests from private laboratories. In private sector hospitals and Punjab Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) Lahore, the expenses for kidney transplants have reached around Rs1.5 million.

The Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant in Rawalpindi has been taken over by PKLI Lahore. Despite this, the process of kidney transplant could not be started there. In the Urology Department of BBGH, appointments were given for operations for up to one year due to a severe shortage of operation theatres, but now two more operation theatres have been established there with a donation of Rs6 million. Three operation theatres have been made functional in this department simultaneously.

BBGH Urology Department HoD Professor Dr Zain Aamir told The Express Tribune that currently five patients’ cases for a kidney transplant were under process for approval by the Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Authority (PHOTA). After getting the approval, the process of kidney transplant of those five patients would be initiated.