RAWALPINDI: In wake of the alarmingly rapid spread of Hepatitis C, the Punjab government has decided to construct a satellite liver transplant centre in Rawalpindi.
According to the reports, a proposal of Rs 4 billion for the construction of the transplant centre has already been forwarded to the Punjab government.
The patients in the liver centre, located at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH), were treated since 2011, but there was no satellite liver transplant centre in the whole division. However, the decision to construct the centre has been taken in the interest of the public, since the number of patients suffering from hepatitis C is increasing on a daily basis.
The proposed facilities of treatment, which would be available in the new centre, do not exist at HFH or in the other hospitals of KP, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The HFH only deals with cases related to stomach and liver diseases. The relevant facilities are available only at Shaukat Khanum Hospital Lahore (SKHL) and Agha Khan Hospital Karachi (AKHK), both of them being private.
Founder of the HFH liver transplant centre, and Rawalpindi Medical College Vice Chancellor (VC), Dr Mohammad Umar said that the hospital has successfully conducted around 2,000 surgeries in the hospital.
He said that the centre was constructed at a cost of Rs 300 million approximately, including a donation of Rs 45 million. He said that the centre is operating using around 60 per cent government resources, and 40 per cent using donations.
