First two bone marrow transplantation procedures at Children Hospital has been successfully carried out. Children Hospital Lahore is the first public sector hospital across the country where bone marrow transplantation launched. It was announced by the Dean Children Hospital Prof. Masood Sadiq and Medical Director Prof. Ahsan Waheed Rathore in press conference after successful completion of bone marrow transplantation of two children i.e. Bilal two years and Aashir four years of age, at Children Hospital, here today. The real sisters of both the children have donated their bone marrow for their younger brothers. Prof. Ahsan Waheed Rathore said that it has become possible only due to the personal interest of and the attention paid by the Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif with a vision to provide best healthcare facilities to the people of Punjab. Prof. Rathore further informed that both the donors and recipients are stable and their health is improving. He informed that Chief Minister Punjab has appointed Project Director Dr. Tahir Shamsi who is the pioneer of bone marrow in Pakistan and the Director of National Institute of Blood Diseases, Karachi (NIBD). He said that the doctors of Children Hospital have written new history of medical in Pakistan by conducting successful bone marrow transplantation in public sector hospital. Dr. Tahir Shamsi, while responding to a question informed that the procedure carried out after tissue matching of real siblings and after giving anesthesia 200-250 ml bone marrow obtained from the bones of the donor and infused in the recipient patient and the patient kept in infection free atmosphere for seven to eight weeks. He informed that after infusion bone marrow starts producing fresh blood. Dr. Shamsi further informed that the successful rate of this treatment is about 70 percent in all over the world. He informed that so far 2000 bone marrow transplantation have been carried out in Pakistan and all were in the private sector as before the Children Hospital Lahore there was not a single such facility available in Pakistan in public sector. Prof. Ahsan Waheed Rathore said that since the bone marrow transplantation facility is available in Children Hospital therefore many lives of children could be saved. Prof. Masood Sadiq informed the media that Children Hospital has become a centre of excellence and we are starting training program in bone marrow transplantation for the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff with a plan to introduce this facility in other hospitals of Punjab such as Nishtar Hospital Multan and Bahawalpur. Prof. Masood Sadiq and Prof. Ahsan Waheed Rathore congratulated the whole team of doctors, nurses and paramedics, who are specially trained for this procedure, on their success. The team leader Dr. Mewish Faizan informed that this way of treatment is helpful for the treatment of thalassemia, A-plastic anemia and cancer and those patients whose immunity is weak can also be treated by bone marrow transplantation. She expressed determination that her whole team would continue their dedicated efforts for conducting these procedures at Children Hospital. The other members of medical team were included Dr. Saima Farhan, Dr. Nasir Bukhari, Dr. Arifa, Dr. Mansoor Mazari, Dr. Rukhsana and the nursing staff. On this occasion, Mukhtar Ahmed father of Ashir who has got bone marrow transplantation lauded the Punjab government’s efforts and especially thanked to the Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and the doctors of Children Hospital for providing such a costly treatment facility to his son free of cost.
