LAHORE: After the inauguration of a bone-marrow transplant (BMT) facility at Children Hospital, Lahore, 2 procedures have been successfully carried out, Children Hospital Dean Masood Sadiq and Medical Director Ahsan Waheed said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Children Hospital is the first public sector hospital across the country where bone marrow transplant was launched. Successful completion of BMTs of two children, Bilal (2) and Aashir (4) have been carried out. The transplant was donated to both by their sisters.
Ahsan Waheed said that such treatment has become possible only due to the personal interest of and attention paid by the Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with a vision to provide the best healthcare facilities to the people of Punjab. Waheed further informed that both the donors and recipients are stable and their health is improving. He said that the CM has appointed x Dr Tahir Shamsi as the project director, who is the pioneer of bone marrow in Pakistan and the director of National Institute of Blood Diseases, Karachi (NIBD).
Dr Tahir Shamsi informed that the success rate of the treatment is about 70 per cent all over the world. He informed that so far, 2,000 BMTs have been carried out in Pakistan and all were done in the private sector. Ahsan Waheed said that the new facility at Children Hospital would save the lives of many children. It was informed that there is a plan to introduce this facility in other hospitals of Punjab such as Nishtar Hospital, Multan and Bahawalpur.
Mukhtar Ahmed, father of Aashir who underwent a successful transplant procedure, lauded the Punjab government’s efforts and thanked Shehbaz Sharif and the doctors of Children Hospital for providing such a costly treatment to his son free of cost.
