Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A new state-of-the-art organ transplant centre of worth Rs 2 billion will start functioning soon at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

The preparation of PC-1 for the said project was in final stages and after its approval, the people of the country will start availing best medical services from the centre, PIMS Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ikram said talking to APP here on Wednesday. He said the project was proposed with an aim to give relief to those patients who were suffering from severe medical complications and immediate need organ transplantation.

He said that the centre would be the first of its kind in public sector hospital where best services would be provided to those deserving patients who were unable to afford heavy expenses on organ transplant in private hospitals.

He said that the project components including separate building, equipment and intensive care unit besides new posts for medical and para medical staff. He said there was no liver transplant centre currently working in the hospital adding that administration of the hospital had tried to start liver transplantation in existing infrastructure in 2010 but could not get success.

The VC said liver transplant was a specific field and there were few doctors in the country who had expertise in liver transplantation. He said that precious lives could be saved by establishing such transplant centres in the country.

It is pertinent to mention here that there was no hospital in the country having facility of liver transplant except at a private hospital in the federal capital. Health experts claimed that there were around eight million patients of hepatitis C in the country while almost 80,000 people were dying every year due to liver related diseases in the country.

They said these patients face liver failure after having disease for long period of 20-30 years during which they did not get appropriate treatment that resulted in developing of liver cancer.