SIUT has also offered all the hospitals working in Islamabad and other Northern Areas of the country to refer all the patients with kidney ailments to SIUT, Karachi for further treatment.
This was stated by the renowned urologist and SIUT Chief Professor Dr Adeeb Rizvi while talking to Business Recorder here on Monday. Dr Rizvi said that a whole floor of the SIUT has been reserved for this purpose and "we are able to accommodate many patients if they were referred to us from the affected areas", he added.
He told that a medical team of SIUT comprising 52 members including doctors and paramedical staff headed by him (Dr Rizvi) had visited the earthquake affected areas and provided necessary treatment to the patients with kidney problems.
He said that they had established their camps in Mansehra, Abbottabad, Balakot and Muzaffarabad and treated a number of patients.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 20 to 22 percent people are affected by the kidney diseases in such disasters. "We could not reach all the patients due to the rugged terrain and absence of roads," he said adding that the SIUT team did exceptionally well in a very limited time.
The SIUT team was fully equipped with all necessary equipment and had its own laboratory, dialysis machines and medicines. "We did not want to be dependant on other in this situation therefore we took all the necessary equipment with us", he added.
Dr Rizvi said that they quickly treated kidney patients after referrals from other doctors. "We set up our camp in Abbottabad first and began our work with a missionary zeal. We provided dialysis support, intensive and surgical support to the patients.
He pointed out that the SIUT team did 53 dialysis sessions in Muzaffarabad, 60 in Mansehra and approximately the same sessions in Balakot and Abbottabad. Many of the patients were given dialysis facility in the SIUT laboratory set up in its camps. "We set up one of our camps in the building of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad but the building was declared dangerous so we had to leave that facility", he continued.
He said that a three-member SIUT team was still working in Islamabad and another team of five members would be going to the affected areas in a few days.
He said that 8 patient have been shifted to SIUT Karachi and they are treated here. One of them has been operated while the treatment of the other patients is underway.
About the disaster, Dr Rizvi said that it was the worst disaster that ever occurred in the region. Most of the people of the Northern Areas have been affected, many of them have been killed, many have been seriously injured and the rest of the people have been mentally affected. "Now it was the time to take the daunting task of the rehabilitation of the affected people of the Northern Areas", he said adding that it would take considerable time, may be years, before the task is completed.
Professor Rizvi praised the Army Medical Corps for its dedicated and disciplined work and informed the Business Recorder that they had handed over their entire medical and surgical stock to them.
"SIUT had exhausted its funds for the current fiscal year on the relief efforts and we plan to get more funds from the philanthropists to carry our normal humanitarian work for the rest of the year and beyond", he revealed.
Professor Fazal Akhtar of SIUT was another member of the team that visited the affected areas. He said that it was a gigantic task to treat the victims, as identification of the disease was required before starting the treatment.
He said that professionalism compounded with compassion was the need of the time. More co-ordination was needed in the storage and distribution of the medicines.
Abdul Aziz, an earthquake victim, who is staying in SIUT with his 22-year old son Nazir, a renal patient, said that SIUT had brought them here with many other patients. According to him there was a complete destruction in Balakot but the relief teams were doing tremendous job in healing their sufferings. SIUT was distinguished among such teams for their devotion and zeal. The patients from the devastated areas are getting the best possible treatment here and they were grateful to the SIUT management and staff for this angelic work.