Liver diseases are common globally but Pakistan has an enormous share of this problem mainly due to Chronic Hepatitis B & C. We are still living in an age where practice of reuse of disposable syringes & blood for transfusion is unfortunatelycontaminated available to patients who otherwise are not suffering from Hepatitis.

Few years ago a group of Hepatologists from our country felt a need that a society needs to be formed with major emphasis on control of Viral Hepatitis B & C. After lots of deliberations, birth of the Pakistan Society of study of Liver Disease (PSSLD) took place and in a short spell of three years we have been successful in providing technical help to the Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan for overcoming the problems related to Hepatitis B & C. We have successfully conducted our annual meetings and single topic conferences and also organized several public awareness programs so that we are able to make an impact on existing prevalence of Hepatitis B & C. I don’t think we have done enough yet as time is really short for making an impact, the society has to do more in order to bring this message home to the public at large that without their help and cooperation the status would not change for a very long period of time.

Members of our society are part of the Prime Minister’s and Sindh Chief Minister’s program for the management  and control of Hepatitis B, C & D. Hundreds & thousands of patient suffering from Chronic Liver disease due to Hepatitis B & C are dying everyday. Our country is not privileged to have the transplant program but patients are going to neighboring countries for this life saving procedure. Through our society we are making efforts both in public and private sectors that such programs should start in our country so that patients do not have to go abroad for such a treatment. Once it is available at home it would be much cheaper as well.

The society would be hosting the single topic APASL conference on Acute Liver Failure in Karachi on the 10th, 11th & 12th of December, 2009 and it is expected that members would do their utmost to make this meeting successful. Through this website, I would be in touch with all the members on regular basis and would request them for their advice and guidance, for managing the society successfully.

Kind Regards
Sincerely yours

Dr. S. M. Wasim Jafri
FRCP, FRCPE, FACP, FACG
Professor and Associate Dean
President, PSSLD
Chair, Dept. of CPE
Ex-Chair Dept. of Medicine &
Chief of Gastroenterology
Aga Khan University
Email: wasim.jafri@aku.edu