Adviser to the Sindh chief minister on law, environment and coastal development Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Tuesday inaugurated the 12th Chest Pain Unit (CPU) of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) in Orangi Town and urged Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar to hand over the KMC-run Karachi Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (KIHD) to the NICVD so that it could be transformed into a satellite centre for the provision of state- of-the-art cardiac-care facilities to people living around it.
“I have a dream that the KIHD in Federal B Area becomes a satellite centre for the NICVD so that the residents of District Central and District East could also be provided state-of-the-art cardiac-care facilities near their abodes. I would request the mayor Karachi to hand over the KIHD to the NICVD so that it could be transformed into a quality healthcare facility under the leadership of Prof Nadeem Qamar,” Wahab said after inaugurating the 12th CPU at Orangi Town No. 5.
Executive Director NICVD Prof Nadeem Qamar, Incharge NICVD Emergency Services Dr Zair Hussain, senior cardiologists and local government representatives from the area were also present on the occasion.
Wahab said the NICVD’s Chest Pain Unit in Lyari was going to become the first satellite centre of the cardiac facility in Karachi in a couple of days where the facilities of both angiography and angiography would be available. He added that some of the CPUs could be linked to the NICVD Lyari to lower the burden of patients from the main hospital.
“And if the KIHD is also handed over the NICVD, we would be able to serve the people of Karachi more efficiently,” he said and added that the NICVD was the flagship programme of the Sindh government and the Pakistan Peoples Party, through which top of the line healthcare facilities were being extended to the entire province, including the remotest areas such Mithi and other towns of Tharparkar.
“Now people from not only the entire Pakistan, including Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, but also from abroad are arriving at the NICVD Karachi and Sukkur to avail top of the line cardiac-care facilities,” Wahab maintained.
To a query, he said the Sindh government was financially supporting a network of state-of-the-art ambulance service in Karachi, Thatta and Badin, under which 65 ambulances were being plied on the roads. He said Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was planning to increase the number of ambulances to 200 in southern Sindh in the coming few months.
Prof Nadeem Qamar said the NICVD’s Chest Pain Unit network had examined over 260,275 patients during the last two years, of which 88,005 were cardiac patients and 6,626 were having heart attacks, whose lives were saved by timely interventions at these chest pain units.
“This is the most successful programme of healthcare anywhere in the world, which has saved such a large number of lives and also helped thousands of people to live a healthy life.
“Keeping in view the success of this programme, we have established the 12th CPU at Orangi Town,” he said adding that this CPU was so much badly needed in the area that since its start at noon, around 37 patients had already visited the unit for availing healthcare services.
On the occasion, Prof Nadeem Qamar announced the establishment of five more CPUs at different locations in Karachi and urged the people and media to identify the locations and places in Karachi where these containers, having trained cardiologists, paramedics, technicians and nurses could be placed to provide maximum relief to the people.
“One a patient comes to our health facility, he or she becomes our responsibility. If the patient needs any intervention including angiography or angioplasty, he or she is immediately rushed to the main NICVD.”
He said they were treating patients free of charge and without any discrimination of cast, creed and religion or even the socioeconomic conditions of the people. He added that they were doing stenting and treating children in Mithi, where the majority of poor people lived and could not even travel to major cities for availing healthcare facilities.