The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) might limit its operations if the flow of funds, which are already drying up, does not improve. This was stated while talking to the people managing the most important SIUT which provides free of cost services to thousands of people across the country.
Of every two Pakistanis suffering from end-stage renal diseases who are treated at the public sector hospitals, at least one is dialysed at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).
Unlike other government healthcare centres which have started charging for the services they provide, the patients are dialysed free at this Institute.
The SIUT is the only government-run hospital where kidney transplant operations are performed, and 90 percent of the country's total number of lithotripsy procedures are carried out at this Institute.
The adult population of the hospital has risen to more than 275,000, including 125,000 who visit its outpatient department every year. So far, at least 1,700 kidney and one liver transplant operations have been performed there.
Despite these achievements, which are by no account mean, the SIUT is given only Rs 200 million every year in government grants. In comparison, the Civil Hospital Karachi gets Rs 800 million every year.
The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre also gets a far more hefty sum each year.
"I think the government should give us Rs 300 million. That much they can, and should, do," said Dr Naqvi. He said the SIUT provides high-cost facilities to all its patients free of cost. And, the number of patients seeking treatment at the SIUT was increasing at a dramatic rate, he pointed out.
"High-cost services, coupled with high number of people who seek these services, has obliged us to draw on our endowment fund. And the day is drawing close when we will have used up even this fund which once used to provide millions to us as return on investment."
He said that SIUT's emergency department receives between eight and ten patients every day suffering from end-stage renal diseases. "This means that the number of people seeking dialysis or renal transplants are increasing at a tremendous rate."
Meanwhile, the SIUT's Director, Professor Adibul Hasan Rizvi, said that there was a limit to what the authorities can do for this institute. "I don't think the government is in a position to do much. However, if the government grant is increased it will be welcome."
Professor Rizvi said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz wanted to help out the SIUT in its hour of need. So, the government grant could be increased. "But if the government, for some reason, cannot increase the grant, at least it should give us a prime piece of land, which could provide us with a regular source of income." Professor Rizvi said the role of the masses and philanthropists should not be ignored or overlooked in this regard.
"Look, the common people and donors have kept us afloat for the last 28 years. There's no reason to believe that this will not continue."
In a country where 40 percent of the people eke out an existence below the poverty line, good quality medical care is a luxury, said Professor Rizvi. "In such a situation, there are only two options left to the patients of end-stage kidney diseases. Either pay up and live or don't pay and die.
"However, we at the SIUT believe that there should be a third option as well. Here our motto comes in, which says: 'Don't let anyone die simply because he cannot afford to live'."
World's famous institutions - like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard universities - were sustained through close co-operation between the authorities, philanthropists and the public who supported them financially, said the director of SIUT. Each of these institutions had sizeable endowment funds, besides other assets including real estate.
Professor Rizvi said that SIUT had a track record of 28 years which spoke for itself. "Unlike some other organisations which compete with us for public attention, we are not proposing something which is new. If the people and the government want to maintain and sustain what we have built and achieved over the last three decades they should come and help us."
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