LAHORE: On the one hand the World Kidney Day is being observed on Thursday (today) to create awareness about the importance of this vital organ, while on the other Mayo Hospital continues to deny transplant facility to patients.

No kidney transplant had been performed at the Mayo Hospital Urology Department for the last two years, an official privy to the information told Dawn.

He claimed the hospital was credited for conducting “the first kidney transplant” as a public sector medical institute in Punjab. He said the procedure was stopped after retirement of urology professor Dr Nawaz Chughtai two years ago.

He further said the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) had recognised the urology department for postgraduate training while the hospital was affiliated with the King Edward Medical University (KEMU).

He claimed both institutions -- CPSP and the KEMU -- did not take notice of the “gross negligence” as the two-year gap in conducting kidney transplants was enough to proceed against department’s senior doctors.

The official said the frequency of transplants at the other three teaching hospitals -- Lahore General Hospital, Services Hospital and Jinnah Hospital -- was not satisfactory either.

But, he added, doctors there had been conducting the procedure under the Punjab Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues (Amendment) Act, 2012, enforced after 18th Amendment.

KEMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Faisal Masood, who is also administrator of the Provincial Monitoring Authority (PMA) established under the Punjab Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues (Amendment) Act 2012, said the body had been fully functional since November last year.

The PMA is a body set up to enforce regulations in human organ transplants and curb illegal organ trade.

Dr Masood told Dawn the four teaching institutions of Lahore registered under the federal Human Organ Transplant Authority (HOTA) had been allowed to perform transplants under the law.

“No rule or law under the federal HOTA or its provincial body barred these registered teaching hospitals from conducting kidney transplants,” he added.

A month ago, 30-year-old Irshad Husain had been admitted to Mayo Hospital from Dera Ghazi Khan with both kidneys failed. His elder sister, Kauser Bibi, was ready to donate one of her kidneys. He was admitted to the urology department of the hospital.

Husain’s case for a kidney transplant was processed for evaluation by the institutional committee. But after necessary tests and investigations, the patient was referred to Lahore General Hospital for the transplant on Tuesday.

Husain’s maternal uncle Haji Allah Dita told Dawn the Mayo Hospital doctors referred them to the LGH without giving a reason. He said patient’s younger brother Fayyaz had also undergone the same operation nine years ago after his kidneys had failed. He said the LGH doctors had completed procedural formalities to perform a transplant on Irshad Husain.

Mayo Hospital Urology Department Head Prof Dr Imtiaz Bajwa said strict laws and regulations under the Punjab Human Organs and Tissue Transplantation Act 2012 did not allow conducting the transplant.

Talking to Dawn, he claimed this was why no government teaching hospital in Lahore was performing kidney transplants.

About the two-year gap, he said before establishment of the PMA transplants conducted by the registered teaching hospitals in Lahore under the federal HOTA were illegal and in violation of rules and regulations.

“As the PMA was not fully functional then, rules did not allow any institution to perform this operation,” Dr Bajwa said.

Professor of urology at Jinnah Hospital Dr Saleem Akhtar said these operations were being conducted regularly at his institute under the relevant laws.

“We performed kidney transplants on three patients last month,” Dr Shabbir Chaudhry, a doctor at the urology department of Jinnah Hospital, told Dawn. The transplants were conducted after seeking approval from the ethical board committee, he added.