KARACHI: NICVD provided direct link from Sharea Faisal
KARACHI, May 4: The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) was provided direct link from Sharea Faisal for facilitation of patients and now ambulances and other vehicles on emergency services would enter NICVD from Sharea Faisal chowrangi.
The new entrance was formally inaugurated by City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal at a ceremony here on Thursday. The DG NAB, Maj Gen Mukhtar Ahmed and executive director NICVD Prof Azhar Masood Farooqi were also present.
The land for the entrance was provided by the NAB while the city government spent Rs 3.2 million on its completion in just 90 days.
Speaking on the occasion and later talking to newsmen, the city nazim said that heart patients visit NICVD from every corner of Karachi. In order to facilitate them, land was obtained from the NAB.
However, Mustafa Kamal said it was not the solution and more access ways were being constructed, including one from the elevated expressway to be constructed along Sharea Faisal.
Mustafa Kamal said: “We have started very fast development process which will show significant change in the next few months.”
He informed that country's biggest under-passes are being constructed in Karachi. Earlier, the biggest underpass was 350 feet long while our under-passes are 600 to 700 feet long on which work is going on 24 hours.
To a question, the nazim said there was a need for 11 overhead bridges on Sharea Faisal for pedestrians, out of which work on four bridges has started and work on rest of the bridges would start soon.
He pointed out that there are five major hospitals in this area and provision of emergency access to them was in his mind from day one.
“I had already planned it and soon more emergency access ways will be constructed”.
He described as wrong the impression that under-passes cause problems. He said Gharibabad underpass is a two-year old project but work on it was not started.“I can claim that never before 24-hour work was done on development projects,” he pointed out.
He thanked DG NAB Mukhtar Ahmed for providing land at the request of city government.
Mustafa Kamal said that he would have similar cooperation from other organizations as well for public welfare and the suit set by NAB would be followed by others.
He said the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD) in Federal B Area was being developed on an emergency basis as the ratio of cardiovascular diseases had been increasing in the city. He said that almost 600 medical staff, including cardiovascular experts, would soon be appointed in the KIHD and it would be furnished with latest equipment.
He said that better road network always helps save lives of emergency patients, as their early shifting to hospitals was crucial to save their lives.
He said that the city government was focusing on construction of roads. He said that presently work was under way on 72 roads in the city according to international standards. He said that these road projects would be completed within a few months.—APP/PPI
