Pakistan
- Pakistan: Meeting with Fahmida Mirza
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Thanks to its cooperation with the UK Association for Medical Aid in Pakistan (http://www.ma2p.org.uk/), C2C was able to meet Dr Fahmida Mirza, the Pakistan National Assembly Speaker, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahmida_Mirza) who showed great knowledge of thalassemia and interest for C2C projects.
- Dr Faulkner's speech at the inauguration of the Simone Montomoli BMT unit at PIMS, Islamabad, Pakistan
On Tuesday, 20th January 2009, the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) was inaugurated in a sober but impressive ceremony. Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Lawrence Faulkner, expressed his excitement and enthusiasm to be a part of this noble cause.
- Inauguration of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at PIMS, Pakistan
On Tuesday, 20th January 2009, Pakistani Federal Minister for Health, Mir Aijaz Khan Jhakrani inaugurated the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at PIMS (http://www.pims.gov.pk/index.htm) . Also present were the Italian Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Vincenzo Prati, Executive Director PIMS, Dr. Abdul Majeed Rajput, Managing Director Pakistan Baitul Maal (http://www.baitulmaal.org/
) , Zamarrud Khan, and Italian paediatric onco-hematologist, Dr. Lawrence Faulkner. - Meeting with General Usmani, Human Organ Transplantation Authority in Pakistan
Pakistan has been performing solid organ transplantation, mostly kidney, for several years throughout the country and an active national transplant committee is in place. C2C was very glad and honoured to meet General Abdul Qadir Usmani, Human Organ Transplantation Authority in Pakistan, and had the opportunity to brief him on our project and its current status.
- Meeting with the State Health Minister
Monday morning Khalid, Sadaf, and myself met the Italian Ambassador, Dr.Vincenzo Prati, and his wife at the Italian Embassy. We had a discussion about our projects and other initiatives of Italian organizations and corporations in Pakistan.
- The support from the Italian Embassy in IslamabadThe Italian Embassy in Islamabad is greatly impressed by Cure2Children and its activities in Pakistan since the very beginning. C2C first met Simone De Santi, Deputy Head of the Italian Mission, more than a year ago and kept in touch with him since. Through him C2C was able to involve Dr .Vincenzo Prati, the Italian Ambassador in Pakistan.
- The last days in Pakistan
July 9, 2008. To get from Islamabad to Lahore I booked a taxi, it’s quicker and less expensive. I am curious to make this trip and enjoy some site-seeing, a little less than 400 km of well-kept comfortable highway. - Project Pakistan: visit to Badin
Badin is a semi-rural city of approximately 150,000 inhabitants, 200 km from Karachi. We visit the Thalassemia Care Centre of Badin, discuss our project with Dr. Haroon Manon, the centre coordinator. We meet almost twenty families and I am very impressed how well this children are cared for.
- Vacancies
Pakistan
Cure2Children Foundation and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) are jointly collaborating to set up a bone marrow transplant unit at Children’s hospital (PIMS). This would be a private partnership project.
Job titles
- Cure2Children's BMT Nursing course in Islamabad
After almost two years we have the feeling that the engine is running. Our first child (Aslam), a two-years old with thalassemia, has undergone transplantation 8 days ago at the National Institute of Blood Disease of Karachi. Our team is expanding: Roberta Caraher, Pietro Sodani and Cristiano Gallucci participated in a short training session on bone marrow transplantation support care for nurses held at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). - Transplant network in Pakistan
Thalassemia major is the most common life-threatening genetic disease. Even though long-term supportive care with regular red cell transfusion and intensive chelation therapy may prolong life-expectancy to the fourth decade of life, bone marrow transplantation remains the only curative option.
- The treatment of the first child in Pakistan
After almost two years of preparation, on the 27th of August 2008 the first child (Aslam, 3 years old) has been hospitalized in the National Institute for Blood Diseases in Karachi (http://www.nibd.edu.pk). He will be treated for thalassemia and undergo a bone marrow transplantation under the direction of Drs. Tahir Shamsi and Saqib Ansari. - Meeting with families in Pakistan
After almost two years of preparation we can finally offer a cure to the children of our first families. The first drug we need, thiotepa, should be approved in a couple of days. This is very good news. - Pediatric Malignancies Workshop - Pakistan
Pediatric Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation, Supportive Care Workshop.
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre
Lahore, Pakistan, July 12-13, 2008
- The agreement with the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
Things are moving, after meeting with the administration and going over several issues relating to personnel, finances, and structural issues we signed an agreement which also had the approval of the Pakistani Government health authorities. We are particularly satisfied because PIMS would be the first civil government hospital in Pakistan offering BMT. Dr. Abdul Majid Rajput, Executive Director PIMS and his staff are very committed and we are aiming at starting with the first transplant by November.
- Visit to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
It’s the second time I am at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the largest governmental academic hospitals in Islamabad and one of the main medical institutions of the country. In February 2007 I visited the Thalassaemia and Heamophilia Centre and met Dr. Tahira Zafar, its Director. I was very impressed by her work and invited her to the workshop we organized in Siena last March. - Project Pakistan: the National Institute of Child Health
The Children’s Hospital is a large clinical facility with more than 400 beds with all major paediatric medical and surgical subspecialties. The oncology service is very active with 350 new cases a year, mostly leukaemias (50%), but also lymphomas, wilms tumors, retinoblastomas, neuroblastomas, germ cell tumors, bone tumors and soft-tissue sarcomas. - Project Pakistan: meeting with the Director of the Pakistan Medical Research Council
On Monday June 20 we have an appointment with Dr. Huma Qureshi, Executive Director of the Pakistan Medical Research Council, and Dr. Rashid Jooma, Director General Health. - Project Pakistan: the Shifa International Hospital
Shifa International Hospital is probably the best private hospital in the capital. It has been around for 15 years and was founded by physicians who returned from training in the US.
- A stem cell transplant network in Pakistan
Thalassemia major is the most common life-threatening genetic disease. Even though long-term supportive care with regular red cell transfusion and intensive chelation therapy for iron overload may prolong life-expectancy to the fourth decade of life, bone marrow transplantation remains the only curative option. Appropriate supportive care is quite expensive and may not be regularly available in most low-income areas. Without transfusion support children rarely survive beyond 5 years and with transfusions but no chelation therapy life expectancy rarely extends beyond adolescence. The overall costs of long term supportive care are well above those of transplantation, this trend will most likely increase over time as chelation therapy becomes more expensive while transplant procedures tend to become simpler and more tolerable.
- Thalassemia in Pakistan workshop
Siena, March 27-28: The Cure2Children Foundation hosted a two day conference to discuss the Pakistan project. The project is a collaborative network to cure thalassemia and to support the development of a thalassemia transplant network in Pakistan.
- Thalassemia Family Support program
Undergoing bone marrow transplant could be a terrifying experience for a family to endure. The life and death struggle affects not only the patient, but the entire family. The necessity to embrace those families is vital to their social, emotional, and financial survival.
The Cure2Children Foundation Family Support Program is a volunteer-based program that provides resources and services to patients and families during their time with the hospital. It was founded in 2007 as a partnership between Cure 2Children foundation and the participating hospital, born through the efforts of families who experienced transplants. The program seeks to embrace families and fully address their needs during the arduous transplant process.
- Workshop on thalassemia treatment in Pakistan
Cure2Children has organised a 2-days workshop in Siena to discuss about the Thalassemia Project.
- Collaborative projects for the cure of Thalassemia Major
Casa Marchini Carrozza, Via Portigiani 3, Fiesole (Florence, Italy).
- International Symposium on Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
The Symposium will highlight important issues of relevance to tropical medicine,clinical and public health practice in Pakistan and the Developing world.
Organized by: Aga Khan University/RSTMH/IDSP
Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 1 September 2007
www.aku.edu/news/seminars/rstmh/ - A thalassemia major prevention program in PakistanThis project will proceed in parallel with the transplantation program and will aim at the screening of first-degree relative of thalassemia patients enrolled in the transplantation program. In fact the carrier frequency in this selected population will probably be in the range of 30% as opposed to the 5-6% of the general population in Pakistan. Considering that the average number of children per family is 4, the total number of first degree relatives will be 30 (6 uncle/aountie plus 24 cousins). Brothers and sisters of the transplant candidate will be evaluated as part of transplant preparation.
