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'Stem cell therapy to replace transplants'

DUBAI — Transplants are going to become obsolete in another five years as stem cells will repair damaged organs and regenerate them, said Pakistani Professor Doctor Adibul Hassan Rizvi, the only individual to win the Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services 2003-2004 among other well deserved organisations.

The driving force behind the Sindh Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant (SIUT), Prof Rizvi remains a humble and down-to-earth person even after having providing voluntary services to the needy sick people of Pakistan for the past 26 years.

Prof Rizvi has pioneered the cadaver organ transplantation in Pakistan. In 1995, Prof Rizvi and his team successfully carried out the first cadaver renal transplant in the country. Had it not been for Prof Rizvi’s humanitarian service, thousands of patients would have suffered and died in silence, with no help whatsoever coming up.

For his outstanding achievements in volunteer acts, the professor has been awarded the Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services 2003-2004. “The UAE government has also donated a cheque of $18,000, alongwith the award, for the centre,” he said.

“I remember, the kidney used was donated to SIUT by the Euro Transplant Foundation (ETF), the largest centre for coordinating transplant activities in Europe,” said Prof Rizvi, in an interview held at the Pakistan Sports and Recreation Centre, Dubai. The Pakistan Association, Dubai yesterday held a function to honour the professor for winning the Hamdan Award. Consul General of Pakistan in Dubai, Amanullah Larik and other dignitaries attended the function.

SIUT has initially carried out 35 such transplants; all kidneys being donated by the ETF. “In the year 2000 alone, SIUT has provided free-of-charge treatment for 290,000, nearly all of whom could not have otherwise obtained treatment elsewhere due to soaring costs in private medical centres,” said Prof Rizvi.

Elaborating, Prof Rizvi said that the institute has, to date, performed more than 1,200 renal transplants with a remarkable success rate comparable to the developed world.

Prof Rizvi said that SIUT was started with a mission to provide comprehensive and modern medical and surgical facilities in Urology, Nephrology and Transplantation, free of cost to all patients.

It also provides out-patients consultation, laboratory investigations, in-patient services, emergency care, day care services, radiology, major and minor procedures and specialised high technology services such as dialysis, lithotripsy, nuclear medicine and transplantation with tissue typing facilities.