Pechuho okays health allowance for NICVD staff

The executive council of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) on Tuesday allowed the payment of a health maintenance allowance to all employees, which would be equal to half of their basic salaries.

A decision to this effect was taken during the NICVD executive council meeting presided over by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, who said that the employees of NICVD also deserved a health maintenance allowance like other health institutions in the province. Prof Nadeem Qamar, the executive director of NICVD, told The News that the allowance would be paid from the first quarter of the coming year. He added that the allowance was a long-standing demand of NICVD employees as their colleagues in the other government health centres, including the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, had been receiving it for a while.

Prof Qamar maintained that the existing team and employees of NICVD had transformed it into a complete healthcare system, which now comprised of eight hospitals, including NICVD Sukkur, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Cardiac-Care Hospital Tando Muhammad Khan as well as NICVD satellites centres in six other cities.

In addition to that, NICVD is also running six Chest Pain Units (CPUs) in different areas of Karachi, while the establishment of more such units is underway. The executive director said that all of this was only possible with the hard work, dedication and passion of the NICVD employees. He added that he would try to acquire as many financial benefits as possible for his entire team, which was serving the masses day and night in Sindh.