KARACHI: Speakers at a well-attended grand family health festival held in connection with World Heart Day 2025 at the Frere Hall late Sunday evening called for collective action to promote heart health.

The event focusing on this year’s global theme ‘Don’t miss a beat’ was jointly organised by National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

The event’s highlights included free health check-ups and consultation with experts, interactive stalls promoting healthy lifestyle, children’s activities, family entertainment, musical performances, and above all, the red illumination of Frere Hall, symbolising awareness and solidarity against cardiovascular diseases.

Connecting with the same theme, the organisers had also illuminated the NICVD building in red, creating a powerful symbol of unity in the fight against heart diseases.

Small lifestyle changes can protect hearts and build healthier futures for generations to come, says NICVD chief; PMA urges govt to commit substantial resources towards improving heart health

“Today, unfortunately, we have got all the bad ingredients in our lives that increase the risk for cardiovascular diseases. These include polluted air, sedentary lifestyle, consumption of tobacco, junk food and products contaminated with plastic particles as well as staying up late,” said NICVD Executive Director Prof Tahir Saghir.

He emphasised the need for efforts both at the state and individual level to improve heart health.

“By making small lifestyle changes today, we can protect our hearts and build healthier futures for generations to come,” Prof Saghir noted.

He also announced the successful completion of 1,000 cardiac MRI procedures at NICVD Karachi.

Prof Khawar Abbas Kazmi, head of the preventive cardiology department at NICVD, spoke about the crucial role of preventive cardiology in reducing Pakistan’s growing burden of heart disease.

He urged the community to adopt balanced diet, exercise regularly, and undergo periodic screenings to ensure stronger, healthier hearts.

In his remarks, Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the chief guest, praised the initiative in promoting preventive healthcare and said that creating awareness about heart health was the key to reducing the disease burden.

He reaffirmed KMC’s support for such community-driven events and expressed gratitude to NICVD for leading this vital cause.

Singer-turned-activist Shahzad Roy expressed pride in supporting NICVD’s mission and stressed that lifestyle changes must start from families and schools to create a long-term impact.

He later entertained the audience with a special performance, energising the crowd and spreading the message of heart health through music.

‘A national health emergency’

In its World Heart Day message, the Pakistan Medical Association has stressed the critical need for improved access to care, early screening and sustained public health education “to save millions of lives across the country”.

The association also called upon the federal and provincial governments to treat cardiovascular prevention as a national health emergency and commit substantial resources towards facilitating heart health across the country. “Primary healthcare facilities in the country must be equipped with basic screening tools (such as ECG machines, blood pressure monitors and glucose meters) and general practitioners and paramedics must receive advanced training in initial cardiac assessment and triage,” the association said.

‘20m die of cardiovascular diseases globally every year’

Each year, around 20 million people worldwide lose their lives due to cardiovascular diseases, while in Pakistan this figure has reached 500,000.

These views were expressed by Dow International Medical College (DIMC) Principal Prof Iftikhar Ahmed at an ECG workshop.

The workshop was organised by the Institute of Cardiology, Dow University, under the Dow Institute of Cardiology (DIC).

More than 150 students, doctors, and healthcare professionals participated in the workshop.

The objective of the workshop was to equip participants with practical skills and in-depth understanding regarding the interpretation and clinical importance of ECG.

Through expert-led sessions and interactive activities, participants gained a better grasp of ECG complexities.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2025