PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to establish kidney, liver and bone marrow transplant centres at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), Peshawar.

The provincial cabinet in its last meeting, held on December 27, approved a seed money of Rs500 million to establish the 300-bed facility at KTH. The centres will offer kidney, liver and bone marrow transplant services to patients free of cost.

MNA Dr Amjad Ali Khan, who is focal person to chief minister on health affairs, told Dawn that they had made all arrangements for the centres at KTH. In the first phase, kidney transplants would be started within two months that would be followed by liver and bone barrow transplants, he added.

He said that kidney transplants would be started under the supervision of Dr Taqi Taufiq Khan, who was also project director of the centres. Prof Taqi, he said, was a well-known renal transplant surgeon, who had carried out more than 100 transplants at Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar.

Govt has approved Rs500 million for the purpose

“For liver and bone marrow transplants, we have already taken on board Dr Abdul Wahab Dogar, the head of Gambat Liver Transplant Unit, and retired General Dr Mohammad Pervez, respectively. Both are highly experienced surgeons and have pledged to impart training to doctors and support staff in addition to performing their basic task of conducting transplants,” he said.

The MNA said that Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur issued strict directives to make the centres operational as soon as possible to ensure that patients of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not go to other provinces for transplant because it was a difficult and costly process.

“Our government has been spending about Rs300 million on transplants of patients in other provinces due to which the chief minister has accepted our proposal of setting up these centres that will not only treat patients on durable basis in their own province but will also impart the skills and techniques to others and we will be able to set up more facilities in other cities,” he said.

Dr Amjad said that a proposal was also sent to the government to approve Rs1.5 billion for providing free transplant services to all patients. “Initially, we plan to do 60 to 70 transplants every month because there are a lot of people with damaged kidneys, who are receiving dialysis that is not a treatment but patients can survive as long as they receive dialysis,” he said.

He said that the process of purchasing equipment and recruitment of staff was under way to ensure that renal services started within a period of two months. These centres would be connected with Sehat Card Plus (SCP) programme to ensure provision of free services to people on sustainable basis, he said.

KTH director Dr Mohammad Zafar Afridi told Dawn that it was a monumental achievement to start first-ever centres at the hospitals that would offer three types of transplants.

“KTH has officially attained the status of Pakistan’s first quaternary care hospital, offering free treatment for community liver, kidney and bone marrow transplants,” he said.

He said that it was his longstanding. “It has come true and we acknowledge the collective efforts of the KTH team,” said Dr Afridi. According to him, the centres are located in the emergency block of the hospitals and many doctors, nurses and paramedical staff members have expressed desire to get trained and be part of the facility.

“We also appreciate the provincial government, especially chief minister, health advisor, health secretary and MNA Amjad Ali Khan for their commitment to approve the project that will go a long way to serve the people in their own province,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2024