KARACHI, Nov 8: The government has signed an agreement with the Islamic Development Bank under which the financial institute will provide Rs1.6 billion over a period of three years to raise the number of beds in the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases from 370 to 800.

While at present the NICVD has only 370 beds, it offers bed facilities to more than 500 cardiac patients.

Official sources told Dawn that the reason why the NICVD looked so overcrowded was that it offered medical facilities to more patients than it could handle.

“No fewer than 1,500 patients visit the NICVD out-patients department every day. At least 500 patients are attended to in emergency wards and 100 patients are admitted to the hospital daily,” they explained.

They added that over the years the workload had doubled at the NICVD. “In 1996, a quarter of a million cardiac patients were treated at the NICVD. Last year this health institution offered medical facilities to about half a million patients,” they said.

They deplored that the increase in budgetary allocation for the NICVD was not in proportion to the influx of patients. “The federal government gives an annual grant of Rs135 million to the NICVD which generates around Rs115 million on its own through token charges from patients. Philanthropists and donors provide the NICVD with at least Rs40 million every year.”

Recently the governing body of the NICVD approved the enhancement of the trust fund from Rs300 million to Rs340 million. It also okayed an increase in government grant-in-aid from Rs115 million to Rs135 million to raise the salaries of staff and recruit additional doctors, nurses, paramedics and administrative staff.

The sources explained that patients paid 20 per cent of the charges and the remaining amount was borne by the hospital. ”However, those patients who deserve Zakat as well as entitled government servants are treated free of cost at the NICVD. Some 40 beds are allocated for private patients who pay for their treatment.”

They said that at a private hospital a patient paid some Rs2,000 for an exercise tolerance test. “At the NICVD Rs250 is charged for an ETT. Similarly, angiography which costs a patient Rs35,000 at a private hospital is carried out at the NICVD for Rs9,000. It is free for Zakat-deserving patients.”

Last month the federal health minister inaugurated a nuclear cardiology unit completed at a cost of Rs35 million from the NICVD’s own sources. The unit has a dual-head gamma camera with highly advanced imaging capability. The machine is capable of carrying out Thallium and other isotope scans of the heart in less than half the conventional equipment’s time.

In the same month a renovated 12-bed coronary care unit, equipped with the state-of-the-art instruments, was also opened at the NICVD. The expenses of renovation were borne by a private philanthropist.