STORY BEHIND THE MAKING OF PKLI&RC

Sound health is central to human glee and welfare. It also contributes to financial growth, as healthy inhabitants live longer, are more ingenious, and save more for their nation. It is imperative to recognize that Pakistan, a country distressed by utmost poverty and ignored healthcare systems, is grappling with a large burden of kidney and liver ailments. The range encompasses infirmities that cause both acute and chronic kidney and liver diseases including Hepatitis, drugs that are nephrotoxic and hepatotoxic, and kidney diseases that develop in the setting of pre-existing liver disease.

There are approximately 10 million patients with Hepatitis C and more than 5 million with Hepatitis B in Pakistan, with a majority of them living in the province of Punjab. A 2017 survey done in Punjab with the assistance of the Bureau of Statistics Punjab and Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center (PKLI&RC) revealed that prevalence in Punjab is estimated to be 8.9% of the total population, with rural prevalence at 9.3%. The menace of Hepatitis B and C has turned into an epidemic in the country. Approximately 40% of the diseases in Pakistan are related to kidney, liver, and bladder problems, and only a handful of hospitals are specialized enough to deal with this challenge.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), liver diseases are the 11th leading reason for deaths in Pakistan with kidney diseases on the 12th spot. Another upsetting fact is that a big percentage of our population is below the poverty line having limited or no access to basic medical care. In the long list of patients waiting for kidney and liver transplant, many thousands are in a dismal position. The death toll is very high owing to the deadly combination of disease and poverty that requires extraordinary actions to control the detrimental effects of these fatal diseases.

A multiplicity of these horrendous facts led to a promising collaboration of private and government sectors to boost health services in the country and the making of a gigantic project is underway in the shape of PKLI&RC. With a strong will to uplift the standards of health facilities in the country, this institute is robustly fighting the lethal combination of disease and poverty to safeguard the troubled populations of Pakistan.

Ground-breaking of the kidney and liver hospital took place on August 14, 2015. PKLI&RC is governed through an Act of Parliament, “Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center Act 2019.” The hospital functions under an autonomous Board of Governors consisting of professionals with the highest moral and professional integrity.

PKLI&RC SETS OFF ON A JOURNEY OF RELIEVING AFFLICTED HUMANITY

To pay back to the community and country at large by offering topnotch medical care that Pakistan has never seen before, PKLI&RC inaugurated its first phase on December 25, 2017.

Situated in the Lahore Knowledge Park, near DHA Phase 6, Lahore; the mega-hospital, aiming to be a center of excellence in healthcare, has opened its doors with a wide range of services, including OPD consulting clinics, inpatient facility, pathology, blood bank, pharmacy, operating rooms, intensive care services, radiology and nuclear medicine with a complete range of modern equipment.

Striving on to accomplish the mission of binding up the nation’s wounds with no discrimination, PKLI&RC has operationalized OPD services in its highly specialized departments focused on medical and surgical problems of patients. Those departments include Urology, Nephrology, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hepatobiliary, Kidney Transplant, and Liver Transplant. The hospital is also offering support services such as infectious diseases, critical care, pulmonology, psychiatry, internal medicine, and anesthesiology.

PKLI&RC has effectively served about 1.7 million patient interactions as of the end of August 2019. The hospital is providing free-of-cost/subsidized medical treatment, including transplantation, to the deserving patients suffering from these life-threatening diseases.

FIRST HOSPITAL IN PAKISTAN ON JCIA (USA) STANDARDS

PKLI&RC is the only healthcare project designed on JCIA (USA) standards in the history of Pakistan. Being consistent with the brilliant concept – “Hospital in a Garden” – the hospital building will have perfect garden-like conditions for the visitors to create a healing environment keeping in view the positive impact of nature and greenery on a patient. The hospital building is designed to make maximum use of natural light, saving a lot of energy. Top-class international medical designers completed their work on an enthralling model of the hospital-based on healthy environmental protection.

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY AT PKLI&RC

Highly-specialized Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging and Department of Nuclear Medicine at PKLI&RC are providing excellent interventional radiology, diagnostic imaging, and therapeutic services using current best, state-of-the-art technology under one roof. The use of modern technologies such as digital radiography (DR), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound with color doppler, elastography, fibro scan and 3D fusion technology, gamma camera, and high class nuclear medical imaging techniques including the latest positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) benefits our patients while advancing our academic mission of education and research.

PKLI is the third PET-CT scanner facility in Punjab and fifth in Pakistan.

Stainless steel panels with anti-bacterial and anti-amoebic coating are used in the modular operation theaters where laparoscopic surgeries are being performed and the latest Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) is operational at PKLI&RC.

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Infection Prevention and Control Department (IPC), Critical Care, and other departments at PKLI are making every effort to ensure the best possible healthcare delivery. Total Lab Automation System (TLA), which is rarely found in Pakistan, with 3,600 samples per hour capability is in place to improve lab operations. TLA reduces the chances of errors and saves time along with minimizing manual reliance and maximizing patient safety. The lab’s flexible and modular design allows it to expand its systems over time as demand increases. With a modern robotic pharmacy, PKLI&RC will be using automated technology and electronics to prepare and track medications with the goal of improving patient safety.

The hospital has provided laboratory services to approximately 340,000 patients and radiology services to over 50,000 patients. More than 24,000 dialysis services have been provided to patients. All of PKLI&RC departments are geared up to ensure the highest level of diagnostics and clinical services for patients to set a new benchmark in the healthcare sector of Pakistan. The institute is working on the deployment of comprehensive Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) which would facilitate resource planning for clinical and administrative functions, support services, execution of paperless data processing, and electronic medical records.

OUR HIGHLY-TRAINED CONSULTANTS AND NURSES

PKLI&RC is blessed to have a nice mix of expatriate and local specialists, consultants, and nurses who have extensive experience of working at various national and international hospitals, institutions and centers. Impressed by the hospital’s sublime mission of serving the ailing humanity without discrimination, Pakistani doctors practicing in foreign countries decided to come back to their homeland and serve the nation.

PKLI’S EDUCATION AND RESEARCH PROGRAM

PKLI&RC, as a center of excellence, intends to start its education program, including postgraduate residency training programs, FCPS, MS/MD, and School of Nursing. This will produce a large number of well-trained professionals within Pakistan, who will help in elevating the standard of the healthcare sector of the country. PKLI&RC also aims at promoting research culture by gathering national and international scientists and clinicians on one platform for Innovative research.

PKLI&RC is constantly working on developing systems to ensure the provision of incomparable services to patients in a timely manner. High-quality equipment, competent doctors, empathetic staff, and, above all, enthralling mission of the hospital, are the major factors underpinning the hospital’s drive toward becoming a center of excellence in the health sector of Pakistan, healing both body and spirit of the distressed human beings. Not just stopping there, it is prepared to soon make its mark as one of the premium kidney and liver hospitals in the world, setting new trends and benchmarks of magnificent healthcare delivery both in public and private sectors. The institute is reducing the need to travel abroad for kidney and liver transplantation by providing such services within the country. This will not only decrease the loss of foreign exchange but will also bring prestige to Pakistan for in-house services offered to its citizens.