PKLI chief Dr Saeed vindicated by SC decision

ISLAMABAD: Reversing the decision of former bench, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday vindicated renowned urologist Prof Dr Saeed, who had been a constant target of a vicious propaganda campaign by a mafia after he announced to build a centre of excellence for liver patients in Pakistan.

The bench comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi restored Dr Saeed as the President of the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) and removed bar on his foreign travel imposed by the retired chief justice.

Dr Saeed is internationally known for his expertise in urology and kidney transplant. He had returned to Pakistan in early 2000 after studying in the world’s top universities like Harvard and Yale and serving as head of Urology Department at Texas Tech University. Soon after his return, he had established Pakistan Kidney Institute (PKI) in Islamabad where he treated about 150,000 poor patients, over 90 percent of whom could not afford treatment like kidney transplant and dialysis.

Through establishment of PKLI, he aimed to provide first-world health care to millions of poor liver and kidney patients of Pakistan. However, he had been facing vicious propaganda campaign by some lobbies including those whose private practice was at risk. He had been accused of hiring professors and other staff at exuberant salaries. In reality, even the head of the institution, a decorated world-known professor, has not drawn salary for last three years and paid for even professional tours from his own pocket.

However, later the board of governors (BoG) of PKLI was dissolved and Dr Saeed was sacked on the directions of the former CJP in September 2018. The former CJP also ordered Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment to hold an enquiry regarding the delay in completion of PKLI project.

But a three-member bench of the apex court has reversed the decisions of the former chief justice and restored the position of Dr Saeed as President of PKLI and Chairman of its board. The court also challenged the legality of the ACE enquiry report and allowed Dr Saeed to challenge it on appropriate forum.

While thanking the court for its decision, Dr Saeed said it was always his dream to serve poor patients in Pakistan and he was grateful to Allah for restoring his respect in the eyes of people.

"Even when I was in the United States to further my studies as a young doctor, I resolved to end the deadly combination of poverty and disease having seen countless fellow Pakistanis dying with liver and kidney diseases in the absence of treatment facilities and financial resources," he said.

While Dr Saeed had been treating poor patients of kidney free of cost at Islamabad's elite private hospital, he wanted to do something bigger and even better.

The breakthrough came in 2014. “I went to Lahore and shared my vision with then chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif with a request to provide a piece of land for a state-of-the-art liver and kidney transplant institute. He accepted the idea and not only allotted 60 acres of land to the institute in the Lahore Knowledge Park but also agreed to provide about Rs50 billion to cover construction and equipment costs and operating cost for first three years,” Prof Saeed told The News.

Today, the dream is a reality as the first phase of the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI & RC) has already been inaugurated in Lahore last month by the chief minister. The facilities include outpatient and inpatient services, radiology, pathology, clinical laboratory, ICU, pharmacy, operating rooms, and dialysis machines. According to Prof Saeed, 100 liver transplants and equal number of kidney transplants will be performed on patients annually in the centre.

He said the PKLI & RC being established with Rs50 billion funding from the Punjab government and support of international and national donors will lead the country’s fight back against the menace of viral hepatitis. The facility is claimed to be one of the best institution of its kind in the world.

The PKLI & RC is the first hospital in Pakistan to be built on Joint Commission International (JCI) standards, which are the international perimeters laid for quality working of a medical institution. Dr Saeed stressed that apart from cancer, the kidney, bladder, urinary and liver diseases in recent years have become extremely dreadful ailments, and contemporary studies have shown that in Pakistan, 40 percent of all diseases are directly or indirectly associated with kidney and bladder problems, and only a handful of institutions/hospitals are specialised enough to deal with this challenge. In world health rankings, Pakistan falls in the red category, which shows the highest rate of deaths caused by liver and kidney diseases, at 26.97 and 24.77 deaths per 100,000 people, respectively.

After initial three years, the Centre will generate its own funds for 75 percent of its cost. The funds will be generated through business initiatives like PKLI-owned shopping malls, pharmaceutical companies, hotels, bazaars and donations. The PKLI & RC will inaugurate its second phase in the second quarter of this year and will start kidney and liver transplantation adding more human resources, modern equipment and latest technology. The hospital plans to launch a radio station and a TV channel focused on healthcare education.

The PKLI is not just one institute. In 2016, Dr Saeed’s team launched its Hepatitis Prevention and Treatment Programme (HPTP) in collaboration with the Punjab government to meet the WHO’s target of eliminating hepatitis by 2030. Under this programme, the PKLI planned to set up 25 hepatitis prevention and treatment clinics in Punjab.

The first hepatitis prevention and treatment clinic was launched in Lahore in March last year followed by more clinics in Kasur, Jhelum, Khanewal, Narowal, Okara, Bhawalnagar, Nankana Sahib, Attock, Shujaabad, Lodhran, Pakpattan, Rajanpur, Mandi Bahauddin, Chiniot and Chakwal districts. To date, more than 70,000 people have already been screened for hepatitis B and C, vaccinated against hepatitis B and treated in these clinics. Eleven more clinics will be launched by March 2018.