First open-heart surgery performed in Larkana

KARACHI: The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) created history in the cardiac care on Saturday when a two-member team of surgeons led-by Dr. Fazl-e-Rabbi and Dr. Ali Raza Mangi along with anesthesiologist Dr. Amin Khuwaja performed the first, free of charge open heart surgery at the NICVD Larakana, at a building lying functionless for last six-seven years.

Larkana is the first city in the interior of Sindh to have a satellite NICVD center where facilities of angioplasty and angiography as well as cardiac OPD are available and it became the third city of Sindh after Karachi and Sukkur to have the facility of open heart surgery.

The Executive Director NICVD Prof. Nadeem Qamar said their Chief of Surgery Dr. Fazl-e-Rabbi along with Dr. Ali Raza Mangi, anesthesiologist Dr. Amin Khuwaja along with technicians and the nursing staff performed the first open heart surgery at the NICVD Satellite Center in Larkana, which is a historic day for the people of Larkana and entire Sindh.

“Earlier, people had to travel to Karachi for even cardiac OPDs and other smaller issues related to heart but now we have established Satellite Centers in different cities of Sindh, which would soon become full-fledged cardiac centers and hospitals in the days to come”, Prof. Nadeem Qamar remarked.

Claiming that the patient operated at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Larkana is stable and recovering, he said the patient when told that he would be operated upon near to his abode was overwhelmed with joy and added the people of Larkana and adjoining areas are jubilant over the successful bypass surgery in an area closeby.

According to him, NICVD Sukkur which is a 200-bed specialized facility, has completed 100 surgeries within a short span of time while hundreds of patients were also treated at NICVD Satellite centers at Hyderabad, Sehwan, Mithi, Nawabshah, Khairpur and Tando Muhammad Khan.

“The heart attack management services are available at all the eight NICVD Satellite Centers in these cities and two of them have become full-fledged cardiac-care hospitals with facilities of open heart surgery,” Prof. Qamar said adding soon these facilities would be available at each district hospital of Sindh. “Our plan to provide quality cardiac-care treatment facilities with focus on prevention to each and every district of Sindh so that people could avail these facilities without travelling to Karachi”, he observed.