KARACHI, Oct 31: Pakistan has been selected to host the ‘9th Congress of Asian Society of Transplantation’ this year. The meeting will take place in Karachi with the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) playing host.

According to a communiqué of the SIUT on Monday, the event will be organized from Nov 29 to Dec 2, 2005, followed by the 5th International Symposium of the SIUT from Dec 3-4.

World renowned scientists from 24 countries will deliver talks on the latest results of experimental and clinical transplantation along with new modalities being used.

Prof Sayegh from Harvard, Richard Fine from the Paediatric Hospital in New York, William Harmon from Boston, and Michael Cecka from Los Angeles will be among the speakers.

Prof Kari Groth and Tommy Linne from Stockholm, Nigel Heaton, Philip Ransley, Hugh Whitfield, M.M. Yaqoob, and Paul Sweney from the UK will speak in both the conferences.

Many more speakers from China, Japan, South East Asia, India and Middle Eastern countries will participate in the congress, which will be attended by a large number of delegates from all over the country and abroad.

Two pre-congress workshops have also been organized on Basic and Clinical Immunobiology and Research Ethics on Nov 28, 2005, the statement added.

It further stated that the increasing trend of organ transplantation in Asian countries had grown rapidly in the last decade.

It is not only kidneys, but heart, lungs and liver are also being transplanted in many regions of the Asian continent. This has called for exchange of views and experience of new technology in the field of transplantation.

The Asian Society of Transplantation has played an important in disseminating research experiences through biennial congresses, it mentioned.—PPI