KARACHI: Experts at the concluding session of a two-day international conference adopted a resolution proposing to encourage organ donation from deceased individuals.

They said that timely organ transplantation could save lives, emphasising that the global gap between the demand and supply of transplantable organs results in the loss of hundreds of liveseach day.

The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) organised the First International Conference on Transplantation, which concluded here on Sunday.

Both national and international medical experts who participated in the conference hailed the event as a major breakthrough and agreed to hold it biennially to promote the culture of organ donation and transplantation across the country.

DUHS Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Saeed Quraishy termed the conference a landmark initiative aimed at encouraging organ donation and building transplantation infrastructure in Pakistan.

While addressing the participants, Pro-VC Prof Jehan Arahighlighted a historic moment in Pakistan`s medical history, as liver and kidney transplants were conducted for the first time and live-streamed from the operation theatre to the seminar hall and social media providing a new level of learning and encouragement to aspiring professionals.

At the event, PakistaniAmerican expert Prof Dr Mohammad Mansoor Mohiuddin shared that, in the United States, a patient dies every 80 minutes due to the unavailability of organs.

He added that transferring organs from animals to humans Xenotransplantation could extend a patient`s life by up to 20 years.

He explained that the earliestexperiments began with transplanting a pig`s heart into a monkey, which initially failed but were later made successful through genetic modifications in pigs.

International expert Prof JohnFangsaidthatthethreatof infections after transplantation is a major concern, which is why infectious disease specialists were also invited to the conference.

He emphasised that many Muslim countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, permit the use of organs from braindead individuals, a practice now also endorsed by religious scholars in Pakistan.

He added that a single donor can save up to seven lives by donating organs such as theliver, heart, two kidneys and lungs.

Prof John LaMattina from the University of Chicago lauded the expertise of the DUHS team in transferring organs from healthy donors to patients and appreciated the growing collaboration between DUHS and the University of Chicago under the umbrella of the International Liver Transplant Society and The Transplantation Society.

He announced that the next international meeting would be held in the US.

The two-day main session featured Pakistani experts and 44 international-level presentations, with participation from 22 experts from the USA, UK, Europe and other countries.