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**By APD writer Muhammad Sohail **
ISLAMABAD, March 21 (APD) -- A Chinese delegation of surgeons will conduct liver transplant surgeries at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in capital Islamabad and will also train the Pakistani staff to revive the non-operational facility at the hospital, local media reported Wednesday.
The Chinese specialists will train Pakistani surgeons, nurses, paramedical and anesthesia staff to recuperate the liver transplant center at the state-run hospital also known as PIMS.
The hospital’s transplant center had been nonfunctional for over five years due to acute shortage of trained surgeons and supporting staff in the country.
The facility for liver transplant under the unit for hepatobiliary surgery and organ transplant was established in 2010 at PIMS with one-time grant from the federal government under the guidance from the Royal Free Hospital London.
However, the unit could only carry out one transplant in 2012 that too was unsuccessful and the facility has been kept closed since then despite the huge demand.
“Machines and equipment in the center have been lying useless as we don’t have the relevant expertise and trained human resource to carry out successful procedures,” said Amjad Mehmood who is the hospital’s Executive Director.
“We have been considering various options to make the facility functional again and this is one of them which is very proper,” he said.
The Chinese delegation visited all departments including emergency, outpatient department and operation theatres and held a meeting to form a strategy to carry out the plan.
Currently, there is only one private hospital which offers liver transplant in Islamabad, but it costs higher.
Earlier, Pakistani patients used to go to India for liver transplants, but due to visa issues and strained relations between the two countries, the patients have now been opting to go to China.
According to an official, more than 500 Pakistani patients suffering from hepatitis C, B or other liver-related ailments need transplants annually, but Pakistan has no such affordable facility at home.
Pakistan has the second-highest hepatitis C disease burden in the world that causes acute and chronic liver disease.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
