LAHORE – Chairman Sheikh Zayed Hospital Prof Zafar Iqbal has said that the hospital’s liver transplant centre will carry out one surgery every week.
Addressing a press conference at the centre on Saturday, he said that over 200 patients were waiting for liver donation and transplant and the numbers were growing each day.
Prof Zafar Iqbal said that the centre would provide facility to the patients from all provinces at affordable cost, and save valuable foreign exchange from being spent on liver transplants abroad. He said that the facility has already carried out three success surgeries, which have enabled it to start regular liver transplant operations.
He said that the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff at the health facility deserved all the credit for this feat.
On August 12, 2011, surgeons successfully transplanted a liver to Amir Raza, after the brain death of Muhammad Arsalan, who wished to donate his liver to the needy patient.
However, usual reluctance on part of the deceased’s family had forced the centre to look for options to transplant liver from living persons.
A team of SZH surgeons carried out two successful liver transplant surgeries on 10 February, 2012, in the presence of top Indian experts. Indian surgeons Prof Sabash Gupta, Dr Nero, Dr Shahleen Agarwal and Dr Lalita supervised both surgeries.
Dr Tariq Bangash, Dr Amer Latif and Dr Umar Ali transplanted liver to Khanam Ullah Khan of Tribal Areas and Abida Bibi of Baltistan.
Irshad Bibi donated her liver to her brother Khanam Ullah Khan while the one transplanted to Abida Bibi was donated by her 19 year old son Ali.