The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) on Saturday rejected reports claiming the centre's founder, Dr Adib Rizvi, has passed away.
The urology and transplantation centre issued an official announcement and said, "This is to inform that a totally false and fabricated news is being circulated on social media and text messages about the demise of Professor Adib Rizvi."
"SIUT denies this baseless news," the announcement read.
"There is no iota of truth in the messages that are being circulated," it added.
SIUT also requested that such text messages not be circulated without authentication from SIUT.
Further, the notice said that SIUT is "contemplating legal action under the Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, Section 18 for spreading false news regarding a person".
Law enforcement agencies are to take punitive steps against such people that damage the iconic and respected personality of Pakistan, it added.
Dr Rizvi is is a prominent surgeon who played a vital role in introducing transplant surgery in the country.
SIUT is a hospital that started off as an eight-bed surgery ward in Civil Hospital, Karachi in 1972. But Dr Adib’s care for the indigent patients at the ward and support of the administration resulted in the unit’s recognition as the Department of Urology and Transplantation in 1986.
Five years later, in 1992, the department became an institution and started functioning, offering free-of-charge medical services to people who can otherwise not afford treatment.
Skilled professionals at SIUT attend patients for services including major and minor surgeries, dialysis, transplants, radiology tests and laboratory investigations.
