Back online: PIMS kidney transplant centre to reopen

Facility has been merged with new liver centre; first surgery scheduled for Nov 21.

ISLAMABAD:

After a lapse of over two-and-a-half years, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) will resume kidney transplantation. The first surgery is scheduled to be carried out on November 21.

Pims Executive Director Prof Riaz Warraich while speaking to The Express Tribune on Saturday said that the kidney centre has been merged with the Centre for Liver Disease and Organ Transplant.

“We have not made any new recruitment nor have we purchased any new equipment for the centre, only upgradation of available resources has taken place,” he said.

The ED said three patients have been recommended for kidney transplants, but the final decision on which patient will go under the knife first will be taken after analysing their physical condition.

He said there are plans to perform around 48 kidney transplants per year, or roughly one surgery per week.

“The centre will serve all those people who spend millions of rupees going abroad to have kidney transplants,” he said.

Meanwhile, hospital sources told The Express Tribune that the old kidney centre on the second floor of the main hospital building has been upgraded as well.

“The last transplant two years back failed. The ill-fated patient was a young girl who died soon after. This and other administrative issues forced the centre to be closed,” said the sources.

Additionally, sources suggested that the centre was kept shut to push patients to get their transplants done from private hospitals where some of the surgeons work after hours. As a result, hundreds of poor patients who needed kidney transplant and could not afford private hospital fees remained deprived.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2012.