by Lawrence Faulkner

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.

On July 2^nd at 8:30 I give a seminar on “Stem cell transplantation: Summary of current status and prospects in low-resource settings”. Professor Anwar Ul Haque, Director of Pathology, greets us very kindly together with Professor Khalid Hassan, Director of Haematology. The lecture hall is crowded and we have a nice discussion at the end of my talk. Dr Abdul Majeed Rajput, Chief Executive of PIMS, is also present.

Later in the morning Professor Mumtaz Hassan, Chief of Peadiatrics, very kindly summarized for Sadaf and I the activities of the Children’s Hospital and showed us the general wards, neonatal and paediatric intensive care, outpatient department and library. The Children’s Hospital is a large clinical facility with 250 beds and all major paediatric medical and surgical subspecialties.

Three children are admitted in the paediatric intensive care unit: one with a head trauma, the second with a coagulation problem induced by a snake bite and the third with a thrombosis of a major intracranial vein. The paediatric inpatient service is made of two clean and well organized general wards including single rooms with private bathrooms. The premises seem appropriate to provide quality care for paediatric bone marrow transplant recipients. Given the large patient load of the Children’s Hospital, both physicians and nurses with intensive care training and experience with haematological disorders are available as well as a large number of medical trainees. Building a suitable team seems feasible. Dr. Lubna Neseem, the Blood Bank Director, shows us were donor blood is collected, tested and processed. Beside the basic screening tests (HIV, hepatitis B and C, etc…) they also routinely screen all blood donors with the rapid test for malaria. The blood bank seems to have most basic requirements to support the start up phase of a BMT program.

Professor Shagufta Hussain shows me the Microbiology Laboratory and we discuss issues related to the diagnosis and monitoring of common germs and tuberculosis, as well as opportunistic viral and fungal infections. We discuss the basic requirements to set up a BMT program with Professor Khalid Hassan as well as with Dr. Neseem and Professor Hussain.

On July the 4^th we are again at PIMS for a meeting in which I present a brief report including my recommendations, a Memorandum of Understanding draft, as well as BMT centre checklist derived form the standards of the International Society for Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapies (JACIE). The meeting is brief and to the point. Dr Abdul Majeed Rajput, Chief Executive of PIMS, seems very interested in setting up bone marrow transplantation at his institution and commits to evaluate timely all relevant financial and logistical implications with his staff and with government health authorities.

Press

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences may have stem cell and bone marrow transplantation centre, Pakistan Daily.

PIMS to set up stem cell, bone marrow transplantation centres, Daily Times.