LAHORE: Doctors at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) on Thursday conducted first-ever liver transplant of three patients under the ‘swap transplant programme’.

An official of the institute confirmed that the operations remained successful and all patients had been shifted to intensive care units. The operations were conducted under the swap transplant policy in which the identities of recipients and donors were not shared.

A highly-trained team of the surgeons headed by PKLI Dean Prof Faisal Dar had performed liver transplants at the institute and other members include chairman & programme director of liver transplant hepatobiliary & pancreatic surgery Dr Ihsanul Haq, and consultants Dr Sohail Rashid, Dr Yasir Khan and Dr Siraj Haider.

The Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (P-HOTA) had already accorded approval to the swap transplant plan to allow patients to have access to the organs from unrelated donors (outside blood relations) to stop organ trafficking.

They performed tests of close relatives/donors of all the three under-treatment patients requiring liver transplant. Clinical reports later matched the blood groups of all the three patients with the relatives of other patients under the swap programme, he said, adding that the PKLI sent the recommended cases to the P-HOTA. The PKLI surgeons requested the authority to grant approval to the institute to conduct the first swap transplant.

The P-HOTA assessed the request of the PKLI, brought the matter to the notice of Health Minister Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid who approved the requisition.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2022