LAHORE: The Punjab government has approved the launch of Chief Minister’s Adult Cardiac Surgery Programme at an annual cost of Rs3 billion.

The development was shared at a meeting held at the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company here on Tuesday.

Punjab Chief Minister’s Advisory Committee for Cardiology Chairman Dr Farqad Alamgir, Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Secretary Azmat Mahmood and Punjab Health Initiative Management Company Chief Executive Officer Dr Ali Razaq also attended the meeting.

Addressing the session, Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique declared it another milestone initiative of the chief minister to provide free-of-cost cardiac treatment to the patients.

Nine public, 15 private hospitals designated in phase-I

He said the programme is being launched in the first phase at nine government cardiac institutions and 15 private cardiac hospitals of Punjab.

The government cardiac institutions included Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur, Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan Institute of Cardiology, DG Khan, Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology, Sahiwal Institute of Cardiology, Sheikh Zayed Hospital and Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan Institute of Cardiology and Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology.

The health minister says more hospitals will also be empaneled under this programme for the convenience of patients.

The government cardiac institutions were also being upgraded under the newly-launched programme.

This project would help reduce the waiting list for the adult cardiac surgeries, he said adding that all types of heart surgical (adult cardiac surgery) procedures would be performed under this programme.

The health minister said that the government cardiac institutions will be taken as the primary registration and treatment centres.

The referral of the patients to the private hospitals will be done only through the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), he said.

Dr Farqad Alamgir said the annual coverage per patient will be Rs1 million. A reserve fund will be allocated for such patients whose prescribed package ends during treatment or whose complex cases exceed the limit of the standard package.

Azmat Mahmood said an IT-based dashboard will be created for the success of the Chief Minister’s Adult Cardiac Surgery Programme. This programme will save thousands of human lives, he added.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2026