RAWALPINDI, May 8 (APP):President Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday terming organ donation as best service to ailing humanity said effective legislation was important to fill procedural gaps between donation and transplantation in the country.
Addressing at the launch of country’s first-ever Eye Bank at the Al-Shifa Eye Trust here, he said the culture of saving lives through donation and transplant should be properly regulated at state-level for the optimal use of organs.
Al-Shifa’s Eye Bank has been established with the help of Eversight, a non-governmental organization from the United States and has facilities to store cornea which are transplanted to patients suffering with corneal blindness.
The president lauded Al-Shifa Eye Trust for the initiative of providing quality and affordable services and said corneal transplants would help alleviations of thousands of patients in the country suffering with blindness.
He said Pakistan at present was mostly reliant on Sri Lanka for receiving corneal donations and stressed the need to educate people in Pakistan about the importance and mechanics of organ donation through community-oriented awareness programmes to fulfill demand at local level.
He suggested that opinion could be sought from Islamic Ideology Council and religious experts on encouraging public to volunteer organ donation.
The president emphasized on improving hospital-based tertiary eye care services to expand the scope of facilities for eye patients.
He said use of modern technology especially artificial intelligence could ensure effective implementation of applied research in ophthamology.
He said prevention of eye diseases was important to avoid complicated surgeries, that otherwise required heavy financial resources.
President Alvi said the role of philanthropists was important in helping the trusts function smoothly in the best interest of patients.
President urges legislation to fill procedural gaps between organ donation, transplant
