MULTAN: A team of Multan Institute of Kidney Diseases (MIKD) has successfully performed the first-ever renal transplant surgery at the institute.

The team that conducted the complicated procedure includes urologists Dr Ali Imran Zaidi, Dr Salman Arshad, Dr Tanveerul Haq, Dr Masood Afzal, Dr Nauman Masood, Dr Asif Hameed and Dr Ayaz Bilal, nephrologists Dr Salman Imtiaz, Dr M Rashid Asghar and Dr M Tanzeel Abbasi, Anesthetics Dr M Saleem Saleemi, Dr Saeedullah and Dr Hassan, besides paramedical staff.

“Both the recipient and donor are under special supervision, care and observation and are in stable condition,” said Dr Zaidi, who is campus head, seior consultant urologist and transplant surgeon.

He said the renal transplant was done on Tuesday after Ghazla Waqar (36), wife of patient Muhammad Waqar (42), a resident of Multan, donated her kidney to her husband.

“Presently, we have budget for 24 transplants in a year, but we are aiming for more than that in the first year and the numbers will increase with the passage of time,” he said.

He said the renal transplant services were being provided free of cost, along with all the pre and post tests and one-year medicines.

“Being a specialised kidney institute, we had been trying to get approval for renal transplant procedures at the MIKD for the last two years and it was finally granted in May 2021 by the Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (PHOTA). Now the patients from south Punjab can have renal transplants in Multan,” he said.

He said the MIKD was a 150-bed tertiary care, state of the art hospital for kidney diseases owned and fully-funded by Punjab government and it is managed by The Indus Hospital.

He said the institute was actively contributing to the noble cause of the Indus Health Network by providing quality healthcare services free of cost with respect and dignity to the patients.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2021