QUETTA: Balochistan Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch said on Wednesday that around 700 poor heart patients would be provided free stents.

The minister told a press conference that the facility would be available from next year and the decision had been taken to help those patients who could not afford to buy the stent on their own.

He denied reports regarding lack of medical facilities at government-run hospitals in Balochistan, particularly in Quetta.

“All departments at government-run hospitals have been made functional and patients do not need to purchase medicines from medical stores as the government is supplying enough medicines and equipment to hospitals,” Mr Baloch claimed.

He said that 490 patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases had been given free stents.

He said that 1,430 patients were provided the angiography facility and another 1,086 underwent angioplasty at Civil Hospital Quetta.

He said the health department had purchased medicines for government-run hospitals through a transparent bidding process.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2016