KARACHI: The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) has released its annual performance statistics for 2025, according to which over 1.6 million patients from across Pakistan were treated free of cost during the year.

According to an NICVD spokesperson, 9,205 primary angioplasties, 6,442 early and elective angioplasties and more than 18,757 angiographies were performed at NICVD, Karachi.

In paediatric cardiology, 3,149 paediatric catheterisations and interventions were carried out, along with 285 percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) procedures.

During 2025, 41 transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedures — each costing approximately Rs4 million — were successfully performed entirely free of cost with the support of the Sindh government, providing life-saving treatment to critically ill patients.

The health facility also conducted 1,567 adult open-heart surgeries and 1,231 paediatric open-heart surgeries.

In addition, 66 stroke interventions were performed, while 964 temporary pacemakers (TPM) and 1,167 permanent pacemakers (PPM) were implanted.

Diagnostic and outpatient services remained extensive, with 88,484 echocardiography procedures, 445,209 adult and paediatric OPD visits and 54,131 patient admissions recorded during the year.

A total of 158,266 patients from other provinces were treated free of cost at NICVD Karachi during 2025.

These included 35,139 patients from Punjab, 109,340 from Balochistan, 11,599 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,203 from Azad Kashmir, and 985 from Gilgit-Baltistan, all of whom benefited from advanced and high-cost cardiac treatment without any financial burden.

Commenting on the achievement, NICVD Executive Director Prof Tahir Saghir said that the institution’s performance was made possible through the consistent support of the Sindh government.

He said NICVD continued to provide comprehensive cardiac services, including surgeries, angioplasties, electrophysiology procedures, stroke interventions and advanced diagnostics, completely free of cost to patients from across the country.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2026