‘Centuries of liver and kidney transplants made at PKLI in just 10 months this year’

Surgeons at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI) have completed a "century of liver transplants" in the first 10 months of the current year, of which 75 per cent of transplant procedures were performed either free of charge or were highly subsidised, PKLI officials claimed on Saturday.

“We have successfully performed 100 liver transplants in the first 10 months of the current year at the PKLI Lahore with a 96 per cent success rate and zero donor mortality. This is a great achievement for an institute which started the liver transplant program a couple of years back," eminent liver transplant surgeon and PKLI Dean Dr Faisal Saud Dar told The News after supervising liver transplant surgeries at the Dow University’s Ojha campus in Karachi.

Dr Dar, who regularly visits the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Karachi, for supervising the varsity’s liver transplant programme, hoped that at least 15-20 more liver transplant surgeries would be performed at the PKLI in the remaining two months of the current year, saying they were also successfully performing pediatric liver transplant surgeries at the PKLI.

He further noted that in addition to liver transplants, surgeons at the PKLI had also performed 100 kidney transplants from January to October 2021, adding that so far over 200 kidney transplant procedures had been carried out at the PKLI and the Research Centre in Lahore since its inception.

In addition to liver and transplant surgeries, they were also doing surgeries for the treatment of pancreatic and liver cancers as well as advanced endoscopies and ERCP procedures, Dr Faisal Dar said, adding that they were now catering to the transplant needs of entire Punjab and other provinces of Pakistan.

Who needs a liver transplant?

People who are facing the problems of liver failure or liver cancer need liver transplants, Dr Faisal Dar said, adding that Hepatitis B and C as well as liver cancer were some major reasons for a condition called "liver cirrhosis", which requires the liver transplant to save the life of the patient.

“End State Liver Disease or Chronic Liver Failure is a serious and life-threatening disease in which liver transplant is recommended. Hepatitis B and C infection, cancer, alcohol abuse and fatty liver disease are the main causes of liver cirrhosis, which causes chronic liver failure," he explained and added that following the liver transplant, both the donor and the patient can live a normal life.

The transplant surgeon, who has over 1,500 liver transplant surgeries to his credit, maintained that at least 8,000 people annually required liver transplants in Pakistan to save their lives due to end-stage liver disease.

Similarly, thousands of people require kidney transplants, pancreas and corneal transplants in the country due to organ failure. Lives of these people can only be saved by launching and promoting a cadaveric organ donation programme in the country, he said and urged social motivators, Ulema and teachers to highlight the importance of organ donation in Pakistan.

Cadaveric organ donation

The PKLI chief maintained urged the federal and provincial authorities to immediately launch a cadaveric organ donation programme in Pakistan, saying at least two dozen people daily faced brain-death at various health facilities in the country, and their organs remained functional for several hours after their brain death. “Vital organs of these people can be utilised to save the lives of people who need organ transplants."

“There is an urgent need to start such an organ donation programme in Pakistan, as thousands of people are dying annually here due to organ failure. If family members of a person who faces brain death but not circulatory death allow their organs to be removed and transplanted into a patient, it can save many precious lives in the country,” he said but added that it is very difficult at the moment to convince people to allow the extraction of organs from their loved ones’ bodies.

He deplored that even relatives of people who themselves wish to donate their organs to others after death refuse to allow the removal of organs from the bodies of their loved ones, and urged the media and the government to initiate a campaign for promoting cadaveric donation as they had promoted blood donation, which was also used to be considered a taboo.

“These days, many people regularly donate blood, but they know that it is a safe procedure and they would lose nothing by donating a pint or two of their blood. Similarly, people need to know that their organs after their death would cause no harm to them. Instead, they would be used to save lives, which would be a blessing for the donors in the afterlife," he added.

Dr Faisal Saud Dar maintained that the Dow University’s Ojha hospital, Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation in Karachi and PKLI in Lahore could be the centres for cadaveric donor transplants, as these health facilities had trained surgeons and all the best equipment and facilities.

“Karachi is the place in Pakistan to launch such a programme for saving the lives of people with organ failure. If people in Pakistan are not yet ready to donate their own and their relatives’ organs after death, this programme can be initiated with people who do not have any relatives, and their organs could be used to save others’ lives. It can be started from unclaimed persons facing brain death, who don’t have anybody to claim them after their death."