February 23, 2008	Saturday	Safar 15, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 22: The vice-chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Prof Masood Hameed Khan, on Friday inaugurated the out-patients department (OPD) of the National Institute of Liver and GI Diseases (NILGID) at its Shah Abdul Latif campus near the Sindh Medical College.

He informed the audience that this institute was the second facility of its kind in the city.

The other facility catering to the liver-related ailments was Sarwar Zuberi Liver Centre (SZLC) established four years ago at the Civil Hospital, Karachi, where more than 8,000 patients had been registered so far and some 70 to 80 daily visited the centre, he said.

The DUHS vice-chancellor said that actually the experience of the Sarwar Zuberi Liver Centre led to the idea of establishing a separate institute so as to provide maximum possible services under one roof to the patients suffering from various liver problems, which was the third most common illness in Pakistan, Prof Khan said.

He said that in the initial stages out-patients clinic and laboratory facilities would be made available and gradually the services would be extended to in-patient care and finally liver transplantation would be conducted at the NILGID, which was the ultimate target of the institute.

The Dow Diagnostic Research and Reference Laboratory (DDRRL), established by the DUHS, had opened a collection point at the NILGID, which would perform all necessary investigations at the minimum possible cost including PCR and genotyping, the DUHS vice-chancellor said.

Dr Khan thanked Dr Rana Qamar and her team members including Dr Tanveer, Dr Saba, Dr Jamila, Dr Wajiha, Dr Moin and other staff members for their great efforts in establishing the SZLC and the NILGID.

He also thanked the pharmaceutical industry for their continuous support.—PPI