Karachi: SIUT has moved to transform the former Regent Plaza Hotel on Shahrah-e-Faisal into a major dialysis and lithotripsy centre, converting the multi-storey building it purchased last year for nearly Rs 14.5 billion into one of the largest free kidney-care facilities in the country.
The institute acquired the landmark hotel building in 2024 to overcome a severe space crunch at its existing premises, where an ever-growing number of kidney and urology patients had been stretching capacity for years.
Shortly after the purchase, the structure was remodelled and formally renamed the SIUT Trust Hospital, giving the organisation a centrally located hub on one of Karachi’s busiest arteries.
Spread across 13,200 square yards with a total constructed area of more than 47,000 square yards, the hospital is surrounded by major medical facilities and easily accessible from all parts of the city.
SIUT officials say the new location will significantly improve patient flow and ease congestion at the institute’s main campus.
At present, the SIUT Trust Hospital houses 60 beds and runs daily dialysis sessions. The management has announced that the facility will soon expand its capacity to 200 sessions a day once the new dialysis and lithotripsy centre becomes fully operational.
SIUT’s expansion comes more than five decades after it began its journey in 1971 with only eight beds inside Civil Hospital Karachi. Since then it has grown into a leading national centre for urology, nephrology, hepatogastroenterology, paediatric kidney care and, most notably, organ transplantation.
The institute’s defining principle remains unchanged: all treatment is provided free of cost and without discrimination. Officials say the conversion of the former hotel into a modern, charity-based kidney hospital is another step toward meeting rising patient demand while upholding SIUT’s commitment to quality healthcare for all.