KARACHI, Nov 28: A team of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), in collaboration with the King’s College Hospital, London, has successfully carried out the first liver transplant operation in the country’s history.

The landmark, nine-hour-long operation was carried out on Tuesday. During it a part of a six-month boy’s liver was transplanted. The part that was planted had been donated by a living donor, the infant’s maternal uncle.

Both the recipient, Sohaib, and donor, Waseem, who belong to Rawlakot, Azad Kashmir, are recovering in the intensive care unit of SIUT’s new building, Dewan Farooq Medical Complex.

According to a SIUT spokesman no major complication was encountered during the transplant operation. The SIUT’s team of surgeons was led by Prof Adibul Hassan Rizvi. A team of surgeons from King’s College Hospital was also present.

The liver transplant procedure was done free of cost, including examination and operation fees. The cost of liver transplant in the US is approximately $250,000 for non-residents.

The operation was carried out in a specially-built complex of operation theatres which are housed in the institute’s new building.

Prior to Sohaib’s operation, liver transplant was not being performed in Pakistan though a number of Asian countries, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have their own liver transplant programmes.

According to the Asian Transplant Registry 1997 data, nine countries of the region are performing this kind of transplantation. The total number of transplants carried out in 1997 was 332, of which 176 involved living donors while the rest had cadaver donors.