BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab government has decided to upgrade the thalassemia and bone marrow unit of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) to a full-fledged transplant centre.

BVH Chief Executive Officer Prof Dr Fayyaz Ahmed, who is also Principal of the Quaid-e-Azam Medical College (QAMC), told Dawn the decision had been taken by the government as presently there was no bone marrow and thalassemia transplant department in this region and its upgrade would serve patients from south Punjab.

The CEO said so far a sum of Rs 230 million had been spent on its establishment at the BVH while another sum of Rs 900 million was required to upgrade this unit to a level of a full-fledged transplant facility.

He said presently the unit’s (OPD) was serving about 50 patients daily and was dealing with up to 70 blood transfusion cases on non-donor basis daily.

After upgrade, he said bone marrow transplant/stem cell transplant would be introduced. The OPD patient handling ability would rise to 500 while blood transfusion would accommodate 100 patients daily.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2020