Setback for patients as surgeon retires
The retirement of Prof Dr Asif Malik, the only transplant surgeon in public sector hospitals of the province, has brought renal transplant surgeries to a halt, dashing the hopes of around 70 patients waiting their turn to undergo free procedures and regain healthy kidneys at the Institute of Kidney Diseases (IKD), Peshawar. So far, 300 patients, including 40 Afghan nationals, have undergone free kidney transplants at the IKD. The surgeries were performed by a team of doctors led by Prof Asif Malik who retired on Tuesday. The cost of renal transplant in private hospitals is about Rs2mn, which is virtually out of reach of the common man. The Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) has requested the government to grant extension or hire Prof Malik’s services so that the patients could avail of the renal transplant facility.
“The prevalence of renal failure cases is very high. The IKD is the only transplant centre which has been performing successful renal transplants and Malik’s retirement has created a big vacuum,” PDA chairman Dr Zubair Tahir said. Dr Tahir, a urologist, said many wards in other hospitals had been closed recently and as such Malik must be requested to stay on. In February 2018, the government established the Medical Transplantation Regulatory Authority (MTRA) and the public sector IKD had become the first institute of the province to start kidney transplants. The MTRA was set up to stop illegal transplants and register hospitals for legal transplants to benefit the people. Malik, who was made administrator of the MTRA, registered IKD, Combined Military Hospital, Rehman Medical Institute and North West General Hospital for renal transplants and the Lady Reading Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Kuwait Teaching Hospital for corneal transplants. So far, a total of 400 corneal transplants have taken place under the MTRA. After the establishment of IKD, former caretaker chief minister Shamsul Mulk made Malik its first director to run it on the pattern of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) for treatment of poor patients in the province.