Liver Specialist Urged Govt To Build More Transplant Centers In Country

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Nov, 2018 ) :Liver specialists on Sunday have called upon the government to establish more Liver Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery centers in Pakistan to help effectively combat growing Liver and Hepatitis diseases in the country.

"People must also adopt preventive measures to avoid this painful, expensive and fatal disease by following the adage 'prevention is better than cure", a Liver expert Doctor Faisal Hanif said while talking to a private news channel.

Specialist said number of hepatitis patients in Pakistan is increasing, however, it lacks liver transplant facilities and major causes include contaminated water and environment, substandard vegetables and oily food.

Annually four thousand Pakistani needed a liver surgery or transplant but the treatment is available only to those who can afford foreign travel.

The physician informed that the cost of a liver transplant is performed in Pakistan with the cost of Rs 4 million. "It will certainly be very expensive, but that is one tenth of the foreign countries," he said.

In Pakistan, hepatitis patients are generally treated by physicians . Hepatitis B and C cause irreversible damage to liver that cannot be treated without a surgery.

He said around Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and its more aggressive form, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, have become the fastest-growing reasons for liver transplants in young Pakistanis.

The prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adolescents has risen over the last few decades and now affects around 30 to 40 percent of individuals he said.

"Hepatitis C is the major reason for liver failure requiring liver transplant," says a consultant in liver transplantation.

"Government hospitals need to be upgraded to a level where liver transplants can be done safely", he commented.

They need to hire competent and appropriately trained professionals, and have incentives built into the system where professionals are rewarded," he added.

Although Hepatitis A and E are self-limiting diseases that have no long-term effect on the liver, but in serious cases they might cause acute liver failure.

"People should maintain a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and low-fat diet. It is alsoimportant to take alcohol only in moderation, get Hepatitis B vaccination, and follow safe practices", he advised.