‘Dr Tahir Shamsi performed and supervised 25pc of all bone marrow transplants in Pakistan’

Some 2,800 bone marrow transplants have been performed in Pakistan during the last 27 years, and around 700 procedures were performed under the supervision and guidance of Prof Dr Tahir Shamsi, it emerged at a scientific conference on Sunday.

Glowing tributes were paid to Prof Shamsi, pioneer of bone marrow transplants in Pakistan, an expert on hematology (blood disorders) and a researcher, at the concluding session of the 3rd Annual Conference of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine (PSIM) at a hotel in Karachi.

Leading healthcare professionals from across the country and abroad highlighted the services and achievements of Dr Shamsi, saying he not only achieved excellence in the field of hematology and oncology but also trained dozens of BMT surgeons, started BMT programs at several places in the country, produced dozens of PhDs and wrote hundreds of research papers with an impact factor of 474.

Speaking about Dr Shamsi, who died last year due to brain hemorrhage in Karachi, his cousin and renowned pulmonologist Prof Sohail Akhtar said Dr Shamsi performed Pakistan’s first BMT procedure in Karachi on October 13, 1995, and by the time he departed, he had performed or supervised over 700 BMT procedures, around 25 per cent of the all these procedures done in Pakistan.

“Prof Tahir Shamsi was a legend, who established a state-of-the-art institute of blood diseases, helped governments in establishing such institutes in the public sector and trained scores of people, who are now saving thousands of lives of children born with genetic blood disorders, cancers and other diseases.”

Prof Akhtar said Prof Shamsi was a Hafiz-e-Quran, who memorised the Quran by studying at a madrasa before starting conventional education, did his MBBS and then completed his fellowships.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Shamsi started the trials of treating Covid-19 patients with convalescent plasma before the arrivals of vaccines and saved many lives when no treatment options were available for such patients,” he added.

President PSIM Prof Javed Akram said they would regularly hold a Dr Tahir Shamsi Memorial session in their annual conferences to apprise young healthcare professionals about his integrity, dedication, excellence and attachment to his profession for the sake of suffering

humanity.

“Nobody in Pakistan can forget the services of Prof Dr Tahir Shamsi, who was a stalwart and a legend who influenced hundreds of persons in a short span of time. Within 59 years of his life, he became a Hafiz-e-Quran, an expert in bone marrow transplants, a world-renowned hematologist and teacher, who trained scores of his disciples to carry his legacy forward.”

Chief Executive Officer Indus Health Network Prof Dr Abdul Bari Khan said there were very few people like Dr Shamsi in Pakistan who had served such a large number of people and influenced thousands in their lifetime. He prayed to Almighty Allah to produce more such people to help the ailing humanity.

The widow of the late Shamsi, Uzma Shamsi, said women marry a person but she found out after marriage that she had not married a person but an institution. “He was an institution, who did so many things that can’t be done by a single person in such a short span of life.”

She handed over a cheque of Rs100,000 to a medical student, Dr Saqib, for securing dozens of gold medals in the MBBS exams.

A former vice chancellor of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Prof Bekha Ram, said Dr Shamsi was such a learned person that although he himself was not a PhD scholar, the Higher Education Commission had made him a PhD supervisor, and under his guidance and supervision, dozens of students completed their doctorate degrees in the country.

The son of the late Dr Tahir Shamsi and administrator of the National Institute of Blood Diseases, Osama Sultan Shamsi, Prof Ejaz Vohra, Prof Iqbal Afridi, Prof Aziz-ur-Rehman, Dr Somia Iqtadar, Prof Aftab Mohsin and others also attended the moot.