KARACHI, Sept 19: A 400-bed institute of cardiovascular diseases will be set up in the city under the aegis of city district government Karachi.

A former director of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Prof Abdus Samad, will be the project director of the proposed institute while an associate professor of cardiology of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Medical and Dental College, Dr Syed Zahid Rasheed and the ASH’s deputy medical superintendent, Dr. Mohammad Khalid, will assist him in setting up the institute.

A decision to this effect was taken by the city Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, when a delegation of cardiologists, headed by Prof Samad, called on him to present the feasibility report of the hospital.

The proposed institute would temporarily be set up either in North Nazimabad or Gulberg towns and later on it will be shifted to its permanent site in North Nazimabad or Gulshan town.

Eulogising the services of Prof Samad, the city Nazim, requested Dr Samad to join the city government’s KMDC and the ASH as head of cardiology department and the professor agreed to serve the city government hospitals to help the ailing humanity.

According to the city government sources, operational feasibility of the proposed institute of cardiovascular diseases will be processed shortly to waste no time in setting it up for the benefit of the cardiac patients whose number are growing at a faster pace owing to their changing dietary habits, smoking, life-style and stress that has become common in the metropolis.

The proposed institute which will be run by an autonomous governing body, to be headed by the city Nazim, will also serve as teaching institute for under and post-graduate doctors, nurses and paramedical staff, the sources said, adding that the city government with a view to involve community’s participation in the proposed institute of cardiovascular disease will shortly launch a fund-raising campaign entitled ‘Save The Heart’, besides a number of overseas Pakistani physicians, philanthropists, industrialists, businessmen and various government departments are expected to extend their financial support for establishing and equipping the proposed institute of cardiovascular diseases.

At the outset, the city Nazim said that after the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), the proposed institute will be the second cardiovascular diseases institute in the government sector in the city. The NICVD which had served as the only referral centre in government sector for cardiac problems not only from Sindh and Balochistan but from the entire country is now unable to expand its services, he added.