In Pakistan, 40% of all diseases are linked to kidneys, bladder and urinary tract or the liver. One out of every eight Pakistani, during his or her lifetime, will suffer from these life-threatening ailments. The pain of losing a loved one is unbearable enough, but losing a loved one knowing that he or she could have been saved, is a feeling that none of us can imagine, unless we experience it. Such appalling and nerve-wrecking situations happen on a regular basis in Pakistan and on an unacceptable scale. The underprivileged suffer the most, due to lack of financial support. Our mission at Pakistan Kidney & Liver Institute and Research Center (PKLI & RC) is to alleviate this suffering and provide the best possible treatment to all without any consideration of financial ability.
Irrespective of financial status or background, PKLI & RC is a place where the only priority is to save a life. It aims to provide treatment to whoever needs it in a state-of-the-art hospital with world class facilities. A simple and elegant design with gardens and waterfalls, the PKLI hospital will provide a soothing environment for the treatment of Kidney and Liver diseases, including transplantation. The centre will also impart training to specialist doctors, nurses and paramedics in this field.
PKLI, after its completion in 2017, will be one of the bigger transplant centers in the world. It will not only provide free of cost medical services to the poor, but will also provide employment to some 5000 persons, including training for doctors, nurses and paramedics. This highly trained human resource will not only benefit the health care industry locally, but will also be a much sought after resource outside the country.
The construction of the hospital is divided into three phases with first 100 beds to be inaugurated in December 2017. PKLI will eventually be a facility with 800 beds (extendable to 1500 beds), a100 bed emergency centre, a 100 bed ICU, a 100 beds outpatient dialysis facility, 500-bed in-patient facility, 20 operating rooms & 10 same day surgery suites. PKLI is situated on a 60-acre plot in the Lahore Knowledge City in between DHA phase 6 and Bedian Road.
PKLI is managed by an independent Board of Trustees, which has representation from the Government and the Private Sector.
With the support and encouragement of the Chief Minister, Government of the Punjab, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prof. Saeed Akhter is turning his dream of providing exceptional healthcare facilities to everyone, into a reality. A Public-Private Partnership, this visionary project is not the preserve of a few individuals, it is YOUR project - A project of the people of Pakistan. This initiative will not see the light of day, if it does not have the support and ownership of all of us.
Prof. Saeed Akhter spent the early part of his career in the U.S and is currently the Head of Urology and Transplantation at Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad. In 2004, he set up the Pakistan Kidney Institute with the support of Shifa International, which treats patients free of cost and has treated 120,000 patients till now. He was very keen to expand this activity and set up a full-fledged hospital and this dream came true, when Mr. Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Punjab, agreed to fund this initiative on a Public-Private partnership model.
This led to the creation of Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute & Research Center (PKLI & RC).