National organ transplant programme can curb commercialism: experts

Globally renowned transplant surgeons, academicians and decision-makers who gathered at a daylong seminar at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) here on Thursday underscored the need for every single country to develop national transplant programmes based on ethical practices, transparency and well-being of patients.

The seminar, titled ‘Update in Organ Transplantation’, was attended by Dr Nancy Ascher, the past president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Dr Francis Delmonico from Harvard Medical School, Dr John Roberts, who serves as professor of surgery at the Transplant Surgery Division of the US, and Prof Dr Adib Rizvi, director of the SIUT.

Speaking at the opening session, Dr Ascher spelt out the global scene of an organ transplantation programme, including deceased organ donations, in various parts of the world. She called for mobilising international, regional and national efforts to ensure that benefits of transplantation were extended to those who had reached end stages.

She pointed out that in many countries, mostly in the developing world, a shift was being witnessed from communicable to non-communicable diseases. She lauded the services rendered by the SIUT in developing a comprehensive network of specialised medical care.

Dr Delmonico, who is also an advisor to WHO on matters related to organ donation and transplantation, presented a vision of a world organisation, asking the governments all around the globe to chalk out a strategy of healthcare resources and to ensure citizens were able to access them.

He opined that national authorities needed to regulate donation and transplantation activities by maximizing donations from deceased donors and to ensure appropriate health care on a long-term basis.

Dr John Roberts also traced the organ donation and transplantation programme and identified the Croatian model which had increased to 61 per cent in the organ donation programme. He stressed the importance of media and civil society in creating awareness of the deceased organ donation programme.

Prof Rizvi, who welcomed the visiting experts highlighted the institute’s philosophy that he had been practised successfully for the last 47 years. He said the philosophy of treating the patients free without any discrimination had been widely endorsed by society at large as a perfect model of health.

Prof Rizvi recounted the struggle against commercialism and unethical practices of organ trade and transplantation. He also highlighted the efforts and success of his team in establishing a successful transplant programme in the country, saying that without their hard work and dedication, this goal could not be achieved.

The afternoon session was addressed by Dr Rehan Mohsin, Dr Tahir Aziz, Dr Nasir Luck and Dr Haider Mehdi of the SIUT. Medical professionals from the SIUT who also discussed the importance of the deceased organ donation programme said that according to an estimate one person dies in the country every three minutes due to organ failure, and these include 60,000 kidney patients, 90,000 liver and 20,000 of heart every year.