LAHORE, Sept 27: Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi inaugurated on Saturday the two-day Heart Festival organized by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology at the Racecourse Park.

The festival was being organized in connection with the World Heart Day falling on Sunday (today), focusing on creating awareness among women about the cardiac diseases since they generally tend to underestimate the risk.

“Women, heart disease and heart stroke” was the theme of the festival in which very few women appeared. However, a large number of men visited the stalls and got their free tests of blood pressure, blood cholesterol, sugar and other diagnostic facilities.

Many visitors complained that the doctors did not offer them the laboratory and diagnostic facilities for being short of required material.

The chief minister visited 42 stalls at the festival and talked to doctors and visitors in the morning. He directed the PIC administration to offer free treatment two-year-old Nabeela Ramzan, as her father had came here for her treatment from Deepalpur. He also announced a grant of Rs50,000 for the PIC’s Patient Welfare Society.

The government, he said, would provide state-of-the-art heart treatment facilities at the Multan Institute of Cardiology.

The doctors and nurses at the stalls informed the visitors about heart diseases and precautionary measures. Awareness sessions, documentary films and open heart surgery were also shown on projectors at the PIC.

The PIC will also hold a walk from the institute to the Shadman Chowk and back at 4.30pm today.

PIC Board of Management chairman Muhammad Tariq, Executive Director Prof Jawad Sajid Khan, Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Javed, Prof Muhammad Azhar, Prof Muhammad Zaheer and other senior doctors were also present on the occasion.