‘About 1.2m People Needed Liver Transplant In Pakistan’

KHANEWAL, (Muzaffargarh.City – 14th Feb, 2018 ) :About 1.2 million hepatitis patients are in need of liver transplant in the country and for this purpose, Rs 20 billion have been earmarked in the province.

This was stated by Assistant Director Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Institute (PKLI) Dr Faisal Masood while talking to the media here on Wednesday. He said the Punjab government was introducing PKLI centres at different hospitals, adding the government had so far spent Rs 6 billion on the project.

In PKLI centre Khanewal, nearly 300 patients are being examined on daily basis, he said and added the government was also providing medicines to the patients, free of cost. Similarly, some diagnostic tests including PCR, LFT, RFT, CBC, PT and some others are also free of cost, he said.

“We have also constituted special teams to create awareness about the prevention of Hepatitis, said Dr Faisal. To a query, Dr Faisal said that Hepatitis was being treated in nine districts of South Punjab.

Hepatitis is very dangerous disease and about 1.4 million people died of this disease every year in the world. The disease is spreading with a rapid pace across the world, he said and expressed a fear that there would be 20 million victims of Hepatitis in 2030, in case, steps were not taken to stop the disease.

In Pakistan, about 150,000 patients of Hepatitis died annually, said Dr Faisal adding the Punjab government had taken effective steps in overall 25 districts of the province to address the issue.

When questioned about steps in South Punjab, he added that nine centres had been set up at district and tehsil levels including Khanewal, Layyah, Shujabad, Muzaffargarh, Pakpattan, Bahawalnagar, Vehari and Rajanpur. Hepatitis Prevention and Treatment programme is being run amicably in South Punjab, he concluded.