Dr. Zhu ZhiJun, a Chinese Professor of Medicine, Director of Liver Transplant Center, Beijing Friendship Hospital (BFH), and his liver transplantation team have provided Pakistani patients with liver transplant free of charge for two years.
The China-Pakistan medical cooperation project led by the Liver Transplantation Center of BFH was launched in 2015. In the last few years, the team led by Professor Zhu Zhijun has travelled to Pakistan many times to carry out liver transplant surgeries for patients, and worked on training local medical professionals in liver transplantation.
On the eve of the 70th anniversary of China-Pakistan diplomatic ties, China Economic Net interviewed Zhu and his team.
One day in 2003, Zhu Zhijun, working at Tianjin No. 1 Central Hospital at that time, took over a Pakistani patient with end-stage liver failure.
“The patient had post hepatitis C cirrhosis, terminal liver failure and massive ascites, which could not be treated by internal medicine and was in serious danger of death,” Zhu recalled, “We performed liver transplantation for him, then fortunately, the patient recovered very well after the surgery.”
After the successful case, the news of Chinese doctors’ skilled liver transplants spread like wildfire within the Pakistani military. Pakistan has a high incidence of liver disease, including hepatitis C and hepatitis B, but no more than 200 liver transplants are performed in Pakistan each year. Therefore, the Pakistani government urgently needs to cultivate local liver transplantation talents.
After many times of communication and contact, Zhu, who had led the liver transplantation of Friendship Hospital the first in Beijing and attended liver disease conferences in Pakistan many times, received an official invitation from the Embassy of Pakistan in 2015.
“The Pakistani embassy came to our hospital and invited me to cooperate with Pakistani hospitals for assisting the training of Pakistani doctors and directly operating surgeries on Pakistani patients, “he recalled.
“Liver transplantation is special because there is no alternative treatment, unlike kidney transplantation, which can be replaced by dialysis, or heart transplantation, which can be replaced by artificial heart. If liver failure occurs, the patient’s life is in danger without liver transplantation,” he said.
Zhu recalled: “When I was in Pakistan, I saw a lot of patients at a very advanced stage who were not getting treatment, with severe ascites, itchy jaundice, and liver failure, and it was very sad for me because they were treatable with liver transplantation.”
After a long period of coordination and communication, they finally decided on the way that Pakistan hospitals provide hardware facilities and Chinese doctors go to Pakistan to carry out the operation. The project was officially implemented in 2018.
Since then, Zhu and his team have made regular trips to Pakistan to perform operations on local patients.
Zhu said: “At first, our family members, colleagues and friends thought it would take too much of our effort.
We have to go there once a month, for about 4 days at a time. In addition to a six-hour flight, we used to work for more than 10 hours a day after we arrived in Pakistan. Even so, the project has received support from their families and hospitals.”
Up to now, Zhu and his team have performed more than 40 liver transplants for Pakistani patients. All the patients recovered well after the operation, and many of them have returned to their normal lives and work.
Apart from performing liver transplants for Pakistani patients, Zhu and his team have focused on training medical talents for Pakistan and improving the level of its medical care.
Since the project launched, each time they were performing liver transplants in Pakistan, they would invite local doctors to observe and study. Besides, they also give lectures, hold meetings and tutor practice on models for Pakistani doctors.
