100 successful liver transplants performed at medical institute

The Pir Abdul Qadir Shah Jilani Institute of Medical Sciences, Gambat, has so far performed 100 successful liver transplants.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was informed on Saturday about this through a detailed report on the institute submitted by Dr Rahim Bux Bhatti, the director of the institute.

“This is for the first time that 100 complicated procedures of liver transplant have been successfully carried out in a public-sector health facility of Pakistan,” said the CM.

The report said the liver transplant department was set up at the institute in January 2016. “The first transplant was performed in April the same year.”

In the beginning, German and other foreign surgeons used to visit the hospital to perform operations but with the passage of time the institute was able to establish its in-house expert team of doctors led by Dr Abdul Wahab Dogar. The team of doctors is now dedicating all their expertise and time for the welfare of the patients, the CM was informed.

The CM said liver transplant was the only treatment available for patients with irretrievable acute liver failure or chronic end-stage liver disease, certain metabolic diseases and liver cancer. He added that previously, patients had to look for a transplant facility in other countries that involved immense financial and travelling hassle, whereas at the Pir Abdul Qadir Shah Jilani Institute all these procedures were carried out free of charge.

According to the report, the success rate of liver transplant is 95 per cent, which was not less than that of any developed country.

The institute has announced that from now onwards two operations for liver transplant will be carried out there every day.

The CM was informed that latest machinery and instruments had been acquired for the institute that were not only rare in Asia but also highly effective and fulfilled the requirements of the medical procedures.

Apart from liver transplants, the institute has been carrying out corneal transplants, other organ transplants and heart-related surgeries. The CM was told that the team led by Dr Bhatti was serving the patients at the institute any discrimination.

APP adds: The liver transplant department was set up at the Institute in January 2016, and the first transplant procedure was performed there in April same year.

Shah remarked that it was all the more heartening to note that the success rate of liver transplantation at the institute was on a par to that of developed countries. He said the Sindh government was bearing the expenses of the institute due to which the patients were able to undergo liver transplants without paying any money.