Karachi:The Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) Karachi could still not be fully reopened despite the OPDs of others hospitals across Sindh province has already resumed their full service.
The closure of Cardiac OPDs is posing major threat to the lives of heart patients. The cardiac patients in Karachi are facing hardships as they are unable to get their routine checkups done from NICVD since six months.
Presently, only 180 OPD tokens are being given to cardiac patients each day for routine checkups while majority of such patients are unable to get their routine checkups. Although, emergency services are operational in this major cardiac institute while routine OPDs have been closed since March 20 to stop the assembly of people to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The suspension of OPD services is creating a grave inconvenience to patients living with heart problems. The cardiologists are also working under pressure as in the absence of physical examination of patients seeking consultation on phone, a wrong diagnose can land them in trouble.
A senior official at NICVD told PPI that OPD of the hospital will be made 80 percent operational very soon. Chief Operating Officer, NICVD, Azra Maqsood, was not available for comments.