ISLAMABAD: The chief justice has taken suo motu notice of the reported closing down of the Bone Marrow Transplant Centre (BMTC) in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and directed the secretary Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) to submit a report in three days.

According to an official statement, the notice was taken on the application of parents of children who are getting treatment at the centre. In their application, the parents had said bone marrow transplant is the only available treatment for thalassaemia major and that 500 children are on the wait list for transplants.

The parents had said in their application that doctors, nurses and other staff at the centre have not been paid their salaries since July 2017 and that they have now been told that their contracts will not be extended due to administrative issues.

Parents of thalassaemia patients had invited CJP’s attention to closing of the centre where 500 children are on the waiting list

Bone marrow transplants at private hospitals cost around Rs3 million and the same procedure costs Rs1 million at Pims of which Rs600,000 is donated by the Pakistan Baitul Mal.

The application says that the liver transplant centre at the hospital was already closed down and the Cardiac Centre may also face the same fate, which they claimed was to benefit private hospitals.

A government employee from Kohat, Aftab Ahmed told Dawn all three of his children, a daughter and two sons, are thalassaemia patients.

“A semi-government hospital which I visited demanded Rs2.5 million per transplant which I was not able to afford. I therefore filed an application at the Prime Minister’s Office and requested that my issue be addressed,” he said.

Mr Ahmed said the Prime Minister’s Office released Rs3 million to Pims with the direction to conduct bone marrow transplants on his children.

“But Pims staff now tell me operations have been stopped due to a direction from the CADD ministry,” he said.

“I appeal to the chief justice to direct the ministry to ensure transplants are started again so a large number of children can receive treatment,” he said.

A doctor at the hospital said the centre was constructed under the Pakistan Italy Swap Debt Agreement.

He said Pakistan had to pay back a loan to Italy which converted it into a loan and said it will spend the amount owed on the BMTC and provide facilities for the people of Pakistan.

“Italy has controlled thalassaemia and it wanted to make Pakistan free of the disease as well. Work was started on BMTC in 2008 and Italy trained doctors and staff and also spent money on transplants,” he said.

The doctor added that the project was ended in 2015 and Italy also pulled out.

“We struggled hard and finally managed to get around Rs5 million from the government in order to continue services for children. The same problem arose in 2016 because we had no funds and staff salaries were also stopped,” he said.

A private hospital started offering good salaries to the trained Pims staff, he said and that the remaining staff is also finding it very difficult to continue working.

“The doctors can join the private sector but it’s the poor patients and their families who will suffer because they cannot afford private treatment,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2018