Sindh govt green-lights free liver transplants at Dow varsity

KARACHI: The Sindh government has approved the release of Rs140 million to the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) for free of cost liver transplant surgeries, ARY News reported on Saturday.

According to a Sindh health department official, the provincial government has approved 50 liver transplants free of charge at the Dow Ojha campus in the current fiscal year.

The health department official said that Pakistan’s leading liver transplant surgeon Dr. Faisal Saud Dar will supervise free of charge liver transplant surgeries.

The DUHS resumed its liver transplant program in 2019.

According to experts, around 8,000 patients need liver transplant surgeries due to liver failure or liver cancer annually in Pakistan and most of these patients can’t afford the costly treatment.

Currently, only the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Khairpur was performing free of charge liver transplant surgeries.

Earlier this month, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah inaugurated a Gamma Knife radiosurgery facility at the Dow University Hospital, Ojha Campus.

Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui, who is also the provincial government’s spokesperson tweeted: “This is the first such intervention at a public sector hospital in Pakistan.”