Islamabad:The officials at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) have announced the start of round-the-clock primary PCI or emergency angioplasty for heart attack patients at its cardiac centre, after a section of press highlighted the lack of 24/7 cardiac emergency treatment in the federal capital.
They said Executive Director Dr. Rana Imran Sikandar and Head of the Department of Cardiology Dr. Fazle Mian took the initiative and decided to start the lifesaving facility round the clock with available resources to ensure timely treatment for heart attack patients.
According to officials, the 24/7 service has now begun at the PIMS Cardiac Centre, enabling immediate angioplasty for patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction. At present, the facility is being provided free of charge to residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) under the Sehat Card programme, while patients from Islamabad, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, where the Sehat Card is not yet available will have to bear the cost of stents and other consumables.
Officials said the cost of emergency angioplasty at PIMS ranges between Rs150,000 and Rs200,000, which is still considerably less than private hospitals that charge between Rs400,000 and Rs600,000 for the same procedure.
“Although we have started the service 24/7, we still need at least six more technicians to make it fully functional across all shifts. At present, only three technicians are available and are called in at night whenever a heart attack patient arrives,” a senior PIMS official said.
They added that the hospital administration has requested the government to recruit additional staff and procure stents and other cardiac consumables in bulk, which would significantly reduce the cost of primary PCI for patients.
“If provincial governments in KP, Punjab and Sindh can provide free emergency angioplasty services, it is the legal and moral responsibility of the federal government to do the same for residents of Islamabad and adjoining areas,” officials said.
They pointed out that the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and its dozens of satellite centres in Sindh have been offering free-of-cost primary PCI or emergency angioplasty to hundreds of patients every month for the last five years. “It is time the federal government follows the Sindh model to ensure that no patient dies due to delay or lack of financial resources,” another official remarked.
Officials at PIMS lauded Dr. Sikandar and Dr. Fazle for their efforts in making the facility operational despite limited manpower and resources. They said the decision would save countless lives as timely angioplasty remains the gold standard for treating heart attacks. They also called for extending Sehat Card coverage to residents of Islamabad, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan so that emergency cardiac treatment can be made completely free for all.