KARACHI:Sindh Information, Archives and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani Tuesday inaugurated the 10th Chest Pain Unit (CPU) of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) at New Karachi area of the city and claimed that NICVD had now become the world’s largest cardiac-care hospital which was performing highest number of angiographies, angioplasties, bypass surgeries and other procedures annually at its 9 satellite centers spread over entire Sindh.
“When this facility was handed over to the Sindh government, NICVD was just a single hospital but the provincial government transformed into a network of cardiac-care hospitals which are now functioning in eight cities of Sindh and saving thousands of lives on monthly basis. Undoubtedly, NICVD is now world’s largest cardiac-care hospital which is performing highest number of cardiac interventions and procedures”, Saeed Ghani said while speaking at the 10th CPU inauguration ceremony.
He further claimed that now efforts were underway to link entire Sindh’s hospitals with the Satellite Centers operating in different cities so that people having heart attacks could be timely transported to NICVD Satellite’s for saving their lives. “Now the challenge is to shift a heart attack patient to a cardiac facility within 90 minutes anywhere in the province and we are hopeful that this target would be achieved soon”, he added.
He maintained that there was no such facility in Pakistan but also in the entire world which caters to such a large number of patients and provides them quality cardiac-care services absolutely free of charge and added that Sindh government was doing its best to provide quality healthcare services to the people of Sindh.
“Sindh is the only province where heart, cancer and kidney treatment is being provided free of charge. (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is taking special interest in provision of healthcare services to the people of Sindh and under his guidance, Sindh government is performing its job”, Saeed Ghani said and adding urged area people to take advantage of the CPU installed near their homes and refer people having chest pain to the CPU for first aid and immediate medical assistance.
Replying to question, Saeed Ghani said federal government had not provided Rs. 86 billion to the Sindh government during last one year, due to which, it was facing immense difficulties in launching new development projects and completing the previous ones but added that Sindh government would continue to support institutions like NICVD for provision of quality health services to the people.
Executive Director NICVD Prof Nadeem Qamar said after the inauguration of 10th CPU of the cardiac facility, entire Karachi was not linked with the main NICVD and added that these CPUs were daily saving lives of dozens of people, who were having hearts attacks in different parts of the metropolis.
“Now we are in everywhere in Karachi – NICVD Chest Pain Units are covering entire Karachi at the moment. But we won’t stop here as we are planning to establish more such units by the end of next month to further reduce the time for patients having heart attacks”, Prof Nadeem Qamar said and added that it was a very popular health program among citizens in Karachi who were daily visiting these CPUs, not only in emergencies but also for their checkups.
He maintained that in a country where people as young as 30 to 40 years of age were regularly heart attacks, it was a good omen for them that cardiac-care facilities where trained and qualified cardiologists along with experienced nursing staff and technicians were available to take care of patients with chest pain and heart attacks.
“I would urge media to create awareness about these CPUs as these containers with qualified cardiologists and support staff have saved around 6,900 lives during last one and half years”, he maintained.