KARACHI: The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) has announced resumption of transplantation activities, which were stopped due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The SIUT suspended its transplantation activities temporarily when the pandemic broke out earlier this year as the lives of transplanted patients were threatened due to their reduced immunity and reliance on life-saving drugs. This practice is universally followed and SIUT was no exception, a statement issued by the institute said.

Elaborating on the policy of resuming the transplantation activities, a spokesman for the SIUT said: “we feel that time has come to provide urgent relief to patients who are on the waiting list”. The number of such patients is nearly 90, he pointed out.

The SIUT is the largest transplant centre in the country, which has done over 6,200 renal transplants from family donors.

During the pandemic, the SIUT has been actively involved in treating Covid patients and the institute has tested 11,600 persons and treated 3,500 patients since March.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2020