Monday, 11 August 2008, Karachi ( Sindh / Pakistan )

Today, Glad To Meet Personally With Sohaib ( PAKISTAN'S FIRST SUCCESSFUL LIVER TRANSPLANT CHILD ), Donor Uncle Waseem & Family. Sohaib, Now Such A Cute 5 Year Old Kid ! May God Bless Unlimited Success, Joys, Victories And Health To Sohaib And His Entire Family ( Aamin )

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History In News =

Tuesday, 25 November 2003

A Pakistani medical institute said its surgeons have performed the country's first successful liver transplant on an infant. The landmark, nine-hour-long operation was carried out on Tuesday. During it a part of a six-month boy’s liver was transplanted.

"Our team successfully operated on a six month-old child and transplanted a [piece] of liver donated by his uncle on Tuesday," a spokesman of the state-run Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) said.

SIUT chief Dr Adeebul Hasan Rizvi led a team of local doctors and completed the transplant in nine hours, the spokesman said.

Dr Rizvi was assisted by experts from London's King's College.

The infant, Mohammad Sohaib, lives in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir's Rawalakot district.
"Sohaib's maternal uncle Waseem Ahmed donated part of his liver and both the donor and the recipient are recovering satisfactorily in the intensive care unit," the spokesman said.
The whole treatment, including investigations, surgery and postoperative care, was provided free, he said.

Doctors say Sohaib was suffering congenital liver problem called biliary atresia, which is found in one out of every 15,000 live births.

"The donor will be discharged in a week but the infant may stay for a few weeks more after our doctors grant him a clean bill of health," the spokesman said.

The operation was carried out in a specially-built complex of operation theatres which are housed in the institute’s new building.

Prior to Sohaib’s operation, liver transplant was not being performed in Pakistan though a number of Asian countries, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have their own liver transplant programmes.

According to the Asian Transplant Registry 1997 data, nine countries of the region are performing this kind of transplantation. The total number of transplants carried out in 1997 was 332, of which 176 involved living donors while the rest had cadaver donors.