Shaikh Zayed Hospital: Al-Shifa to assist with liver transplants

Govt aims to build capacity so all transplants can be conducted in Pakistan.

LAHORE:

Help will be sought from Al-Shifa Hospital in Islamabad to start liver transplants in Shaikh Zayed Hospital and to build its capacity so Pakistanis suffering from cirrhosis no longer have to be sent to India for transplants and treatment.

This was decided by a committee set up by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to chalk out a liver transplant programme for SZH at a meeting on Tuesday.

Health Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu, who chaired the meeting, noted that the government spent large amounts of foreign exchange on sending poor patients abroad, usually to India, for liver transplants. He said that the chief minister wanted all these patients to be treated locally.

The minister said that liver transplants were currently being conducted at Al Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad and a department was being set up at SZH to do the same.

The committee decided to set up a sub-committee whose task would be to negotiate with Al-Shifa Hospital for help with setting up the SZH facility. The sub-committee would also assess the needs at SZH, discuss the matter with both hospitals, and make recommendations for a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions.

Prof Aftab Mohsin is the convenor for the sub-committee, which includes Additional Health Secretary Dr Anwar Janjua, Special Finance Secretary Dr Arshad and MPA Dr Najma Afzal.

Prof Mohsin said that Pakistan sends 250-300 people to India for liver transplants every year, at a cost of Rs4-5 million per head. He said that the incidence of liver cirrhosis was rapidly increasing in Pakistan and there was a need to establish several institutions to conduct liver transplants in order to meet demand.

Health Secretary Hassan Iqbal and MPA Dr Ayesha Ghaus also attended the committee meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2013.