CDA setting up first-ever liver transplant centre

Capital Development Authority is establishing the first-ever liver transplant centre, costing approximately Rs 400 million, it has been reliably learnt here on Friday.
Talking to this scribe CDA officials said that it was decided in a meeting held recently, chaired by Kamran Lashari, Chairman CDA and attended by CDA Member Planning, Member Finance, Senior Director Health Services, liver surgeons from various hospitals and institutes.
In the meeting, the chairman called for formulating a strategy for the establishment of liver transplant centre. For this purpose a committee was constituted which included Dr Saeed Ahmed, Senior Director Health CDA and Professor Nadeem, liver transplant surgeon. The committee was asked to submit the feasibility report to the authority within two weeks. The exact cost of the centre would be estimated by the committee constituted to prepare the feasibility report.
The civic body health officials said that presently the number of hepatitis A and B and other liver diseases' patients is rapidly increasing. "There are about 16 million hepatitis and liver patients, of which 4 million need urgent liver transplant but unfortunately there is no single transplant centre in the country," officials added. Only in the federal capital, the number of people suffering from various liver diseases is more then 0.1 million out of which 20,000 need liver transplant.
Almost all the other developing countries such as Turkey, India, Iran, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia have such units to deal with liver diseases. "It is indeed a national tragedy that no such facility has so far been set up in Pakistan where hundreds of people die every year because of hepatitis A, B and other liver diseases," officials said.
They said that the committee would submit its report to the CDA chairman within 14 days. Officials said that the centre would be possibly established at Sector H-8 where there is already a private hospital being run by most of the Pakistani surgeons settled in the US.
Officials further said that after establishment of the centre it is estimated that the cost for each transplant would not be more than Rs 1 million. A number of NGOs including Liver Transplant Society of the World and philanthropists have shown keen interest in the projects and are ready to donate for liver transplant sector in Pakistan.