KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has stated that the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), which has recently established its satellite centre at the Civil Hospital Larkana, would extend this facility by making such centres functional by the end of the current year or in the beginning of 2018 in Sehwan, Tando Mohammed Khan, Sukkur, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Mirpur khas and Hyderabad.

The chief minister, who was presiding over the NICVD governing body meeting here on Tuesday at CM House, recalled that the provincial government and the donors’ generous financial contribution and hard work of the administration and team of the NICVD had made it a world-class institute, where over the past 30 months the institute had performed 9,058 primary angioplasties, which made it the largest primary PCI centre of the world.

He said the NICVD had recently started a programme for replacing pacemakers (TPM/PPM) totally free of cost.

It has also started a programme for placing lifesaving devices (ICD/CRTP/D) totally for free. Its cost varies from Rs0.56 million to Rs1.75m.

All general patient and outpatient services are totally free of cost at the NICVD. The free services include angiography, angioplasty, bypass and openheart cardiac surgery (adult and paediatric), ECG, echocardiography, emergency services, ETT, ICU, critical care unit, laboratory, lifesaving devices (ICD and CRT-P)/D), medicines, outpatient services, pacemakers, primary PCI (heart attack during angioplasty), stress echocardiography, TEE, thallium and x-rays.

He said that the main building of the NICVD was 50 years old and his government was trying to spare funds to reconstruct it to create more space. “I am quite glad to note that the patients from Balochistan, Punjab and KP also come here for their treatment and return healthy,” he said and added “this was the service the NICVD gives to ailing humanity”.

Earlier, NICVD executive director Dr Nadeem Qamar briefi ng the governing body disclosed that the primary angioplasty was started in May 2015. This is when a patient with acute myocardial infection is taken to catheterisation laboratory and his arteries are opened with coronary angioplasty.

He told the meeting participants that cardiac surgeries had jumped to 200 per month and “we expect to carry on the trend with [a target of] approximately 3,000 surgeries per year”, he said and added previously that stood at 1,300 surgeries.

The surgical ICU had been expanded from 20 beds to 34 beds.

Dr Nadeem disclosed that in line with the mission and objective of providing premium training nationally, 39 fellows had passed their ECPs examination in cardiology and 37 diplomas in cardiology.

Just after the meeting a signing ceremony to establish the NICVD’s satellite centre at the Syed Abdullah Shah Institute of Health Sciences (SASIHS) was held. On behalf of the NICVD, Dr Nadeem Qamar and director of SASIHS Moinuddin Siddiqui signed the agreement.

On this, the chief minister directed both the directors to make Sehwan satellite centre functional by end of December 2017.

The board meeting was attended by Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza, MPA Dr Sohrab Sarki, Mayor of Karachi Wasim Akhtar, principal secretary to the CM Sohail Rajput, fi nance secretary Hassan Naqvi, Arif Habib, Shamim Ahmed Firpo, Tariq Islam, Seemin Jamali and others.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2017