Karachi More than 700 dialysis sessions would be conducted annually at the newly established Akram Khatoon Medical Center (AKMC), a joint project of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation and the All Pakistan Women’s Association, inaugurated on Friday. The premises for the center was provided by Apwa whereas the SIUT refurbished the place which now houses, among other things, ten dialysis machines and a water purification plant, an essential pre-requisite for the treatment. Minor surgical operations can also be done in the centre. A few years back, a maternity home was constructed by the women association on the same premises but the place was taken over by the Sachal Rangers, to recently be returned to its owners. The body’s executive committee decided to run the premises in collaboration with the SIUT which has been providing free of cost health service to people for years. At the facility’s inauguration, Laila Haroon Sarfaraz, president Apwa thanked the SIUT team and said the effort would be of great benefit to kidney patients all over the city. It is estimated that around 20,000 people suffer from renal failure every year in Pakistan and Karachi alone accounts for 12 percent of it.
