SIUT - centre of excellence

On December 12, Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplant (SIUT) completed four decades of its existence during which it expanded from an 8-bed unit in Karachi's Civil Hospital, into an internationally recognised medical centre. With continually up-dated facilities, SIUT Karachi is one of the region's most well equipped centres for renal diseases and organ transplantation.
Over these four decades, SIUT has expanded its outreach to other cities and towns to serve the poor in far off places because the aims of SIUT include accepting quality health care as the fundamental human right of every individual, providing state of the art medical cover without discrimination, treating every patient with dignity and respect, and opposing commercialisation of medical treatment.
Today, besides setting up hospitals in the Nazimabad, Garden, Korangi and Kathore localities of Karachi (with a population of over 20 million), SIUT has a hospital in Sukkur as well. This progress is a story of commitment to serving humanity, especially the down-trodden and, at the same time, raising the standards of medical care in many fields besides kidney-related illnesses.
When devotion overtakes all other considerations one ends up setting an example that inspires others to follow suit with even greater zeal. That's precisely what Dr Adibul Hassan Rizvi did; he and his team kept touching new heights of success because of their commitment to serving humanity. It is therefore no surprise that there are no private wards in SIUT hospitals, nor do senior doctors have private offices.
The success of SIUT is highly commendable given the historic background of low importance being given to healthcare in Pakistan though it has the reputation of being among countries with high rates of population growth - an environment that was hardly conducive for gaining self-sufficiency and equipping SIUT with state-of-the-art medical care technology and expertise.
Yet, by carrying out Pakistan's first cadaver kidney transplant in 1995, surgeons and paramedics of SIUT wrote a new chapter in Pakistan's medical history. The organ (gifted by Euro Transplant Foundation) was retrieved from a 14 year old Dutch girl who died of cerebral haemorrhage; her kidney was successfully transplanted into a 24 year old Pakistani female patient who was at the end-stage of renal failure.
The initiation of organ transplant in Pakistan posed a serious challenge until those, who place the prime human obligation of saving lives at a low priority, agreed not to label it an 'irreligious' act. In 1998, courtesy a noble person's positive firm stand on this sensitive issue, SIUT obtained legal and religious support for organ transplant and thus avoided the possibility of offending the religious 'experts'.
That noble man was the father of a diseased young man; he offered to donate the organs of his son to give the 'gift of life' to those who needed them. This noble act inspired many others to follow suit, and heralded SIUT's organ transplant service wherein it steadily became a world-renowned institution, and convinced institutions abroad about its futuristic approach to making medical care a truly humane service.
Because organ transplant is a crucial route to saving lives, SIUT's latest under project is its Transplant Tower in Karachi, which will increase the scope of transplantation by expanding into liver and bone marrow transplant, and will add a new dimension to the overall activities of SIUT. The future plan of SIUT is to commence the transplantation of many other organs.
Besides its many shortcomings, Pakistan also lacked a forum for defining and institutionalising ethical practices in the medical profession. SIUT therefore set-up its Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC) - a forum of physicians and sociologists that designs core values of the medical profession. CEBC now holds regular sessions for its own staff as well as for the students visiting SIUT.
CBEC's educational programmes and publications have led to global recognition of this centre, and Dr Farhat Moazam and Dr Aamir Jafery of the CEBC were elected to global forums on biomedical ethics. Above all, CEBC helped the WHO Task Force on this subject in upgrading its global guidelines on organ transplant - an achievement that every Pakistani can be proud of.
This profile also helped SIUT to benefit from the world's top-ranking medical institutions and surgeons, and their continued positive assessment of the services SIUT offers as well as its achievements in this context, are reflected in the messages of the top-notch medical specialists - messages that also assure you that not everything is wrong with Pakistan's medical services.
Despite many negative perceptions about Pakistan, SIUT was also able to gain recognition as a forum for global conferences. In 1994, SIUT organised the first International Symposium on Urology, Nephrology and Transplant. Since then, SIUT has hosted several global conferences addressed by renowned experts, which enhanced the knowledge-base of SIUT's surgeons and physicians.
Backed by global support and the commitment of its own physicians, surgeons and paramedical staff, SIUT now offers a wide variety of treatments and therapies including dialysis, endoscopy, oncology, nephrology, ultrasound, haematology, renal failure, lithotripsy, prostrate surgery, organ transplant, wherein it has elaborate diagnostic expertise and requisite technologies.
SIUT's ability to offer ever-more therapies relies on its knowledge-sharing base ie teachers, laboratories and libraries, building which is an ongoing task. Besides set-up of teaching facilities, a library with over 5,000 books and subscribing to 125 medical journals, creation of the Zainul Abideen Institute of Medical Technology convinced HEC in 2009 to recognise SUIT as a degree awarding educational institution.
Besides the exemplary commitment of Dr Adibul Hassan Rizvi and his team, donors too, have a share in the successes of SIUT - without continued up-grade of SIUT's abilities, results could not be as encouraging as they are. Back in 1980, under the leadership of late Agha Hassan Abedi, Bank of Credit & Commerce Int'l (BCCI) Foundation (now called 'Infaq Foundation'), was the first institutional donor of SIUT.
The reputed contributors who financed the setting up of Zainul Abideen Institute of Medical Technology include Suleman Dawood, Dewan Farooq, the Haroon family, and the Cowasjee Foundation. Besides these donors, thousands in Pakistan and abroad regularly donate to the SIUT, and some help in a big way in the acquisition of modern medical technology.
Generous donations enabled SIUT to establish the Hanifa Sulaiman Dawood Oncology Centre where treating various types of cancer including those in bladder, kidney, prostate, adrenal, testicles, as well as post-transplant malignancies, is now possible. Public support at this high level manifests peoples' confidence in the way SIUT is being supervised by Dr Adibul Hassan Rizvi and his team.
The establishment of SIUT's Dewan Farooq Medical Complex, Mehrunnisa Medical Center, SIUT-APWA Akram Khatoon Medical Center, and Hajiani Chatul Bai Haji Khair Mohammad Shaikh of Matiari Complex are the other manifestations of the faith people have in SIUT's integrity and capacity to alleviate the sufferings of humanity, especially its down-trodden lot.
This confidence and support has to do with institutionalising back in 1986 the accounting and recording of appropriate use of donor funds, for which SIUT had established its Society for the Welfare of Patients of Urology and Transplant; this society is overseen by an independent Board of Governors. Donors are therefore assured of the correct use of their contributions.
In 1991, SIUT was granted the status of an institute by an Act of the Sindh Assembly. In 2005, the SIUT Trust was created as a charitable trust for providing medical and financial assistance to all those who are at the end-stage of renal ailments. After four decades of its long journey that began with modest resources, SIUT today enjoys the reputation of a "Centre of Excellence" - a reality that Pakistanis can be proud of.
The fact that Dr Adibul Hassan Rizvi and his team of able physicians, surgeons and attendants who performed with unmatched commitment and devotion in serving humanity, have been awarded rolls of honour and received many national and international awards for their performance manifests SIUT's success, which is rooted in total commitment and devotion - an example that the entire medical community must follow.