Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) founder Prof Dr Adib Rizvi is recovering from a chest infection and is expected to be discharged from hospital in a couple of days.

Dr Rizvi, the pioneer of organ transplant surgery in the country, was admitted to SIUT in Karachi as he was suffering from a chest infection and influenza, a statement posted on SIUT's Facebook page said.

As admirers expressed concern over the health of the widely-respected surgeon, the statement clarified on Monday evening that Dr Rizvi was kept in the high dependency unit for three days but is now being moved to his room.

The doctor is expected to be discharged from SIUT in the next two to three days, the statement said, adding: "There is no cause of alarm or anxiety."

The SIUT thanked the public who expressed concern at Dr Rizvi's health.

The SIUT was born as an eight-bed surgery ward in Karachi’s Civil Hospital in 1972. The confidence of the administration and the people that Dr Rizvi won by his zeal for the methodical care of indigent patients facilitated the small unit’s recognition as the Department of Urology and Transplantation in 1986.

Five years later, it became an autonomous institution under a Sindh act and became functional as SIUT in 1992.

The institute now takes care of nearly a million patients per year, and specialises in providing emergency services, major and minor surgical procedures, lithotripsy and dialysis sessions, transplants, radiology tests and laboratory investigations by extraordinarily skilled professionals.

More than 300 transplants and 260,000 dialysis sessions were carried out in 2015 alone, with follow-up treatments and medications provided for as long as it takes — all entirely for free.