KARACHI: The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) received on Thursday a donation of 85 state-of-the-art dialysis machines from the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, under a project funded by the European Union (EU).

The life-saving equipment, which includes six reverse osmosis treatment systems for the dialysis machines, along with six automated dialyser reprocessing systems, will benefit both refugees and host communities and save lives.

“Our support today to the people of Pakistan is a gesture of solidarity and gratitude for decades of hospitality extended by the government and people of Pakistan to Afghan refugees,” noted UNHCR representative to Pakistan Noriko Yoshida at a ceremony held at the hospital to hand over the equipment.

It was important that communities in Pakistan continued to see the international contribution towards local services and the people who had been generously hosting refugees for four decades, he added.

Thanking the generous support of the EU and UNHCR, Prof Adib Rizvi recounted the services of the institution and said that since 1971, SIUT had been providing quality healthcare services to all patients absolutely free and with dignity and compassion, irrespective of their nationality, caste, colour, gender and religious beliefs.

“This donation will further enable us to treat and manage more effectively the overwhelming number of kidney failure patients,” he said.

The contribution, the speakers said, illustrated EU’s commitment to supporting refugees and host communities through a three-year funded programme covering Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iran and Pakistan, which focused on strengthening health, education, livelihoods, and protection activities. The contribution was built on EU development support for Afghans and host communities in Pakistan since 2018.

The programme was attended by the hospital’s medical team, UNHCR officials and representatives of the government of Pakistan.

The EU project, according to a press release, aims at enhancing the capacity of the renal unit to carry out more dialysis sessions, and ease pressure on public services. On a daily basis, the medical team at SIUT carries out approximately 1,500 dialysis sessions. Medical services are free of charge for all patients, regardless of their nationality or legal status.

“In addition to the 85 dialysis machines for SIUT, EU has also funded critical equipment for various public hospitals in Pakistan, including a thalassaemia unit, a gastroenterology unit as well as state-of-the-art CT scanners in areas hosting refugees,” the press release stated.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2022