Successful bypass surgery performed at Tando Muhammad Khan

KARACHI: Tando Muhammad Khan becomes the fourth city of Sindh to have the open heart surgery and the Pediatric Cardiology treatment facilities.

The cardiac surgeons and the NICVD administration performed the first successful bypass surgery at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) Satellite Center at Tando Muhammad Khan on Saturday. A Pediatric Cardiology Ward was also inaugurated by the senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Naveed Qamar who pledged to transform the NICVD Satellite Center into one of the best cardiac care hospitals in the country, saying this facility would provide cardiac treatment to people of Thatta, Badin, Tharparkar and the adjoining areas as well.

Accompanied by Executive Director NICVD Prof. Nadeem Qamar, Chief of Surgery Fazle Rabbi, Prof. Khawar Kazmi, Head of Anesthesia NICVD Prof. Amin Khawaja, Prof. Najma Patel, local MPAs and the PPP leaders, Syed Nadeem Qamar visited different wards and sections of the cardiac hospital and promised to bring other health facilities at par with NICVD in Tando Muhammad Khan. Terming the open heart surgery and the Pediatric Cardiology treatment facilities a good omen for the residents of Tando Muhammad Khan and the adjoining areas, Syed Naveed Qamar said the people of this area could not even travel to Karachi for treatment but now they could avail the state of art cardiac treatment closer to their homes.

The cardiologists estimate that round 30,000 to 40,000 children from Tando Muhammad Khan to Thatta, Badin,Tharparkar and adjoining areas are born with congenital heart defects, but only a few hundreds are treated while thousands remain undiagnosed. The Pediatric Cardiology Ward in Tando Muhammad Khan would save thousands of lives of children”, Chief of Pediatric Cardiology NICVD Prof. Najma Patel said. She was it was her dream to provide treatment facilities to the children of the interior of Sindh born with holes in their hearts. She thanked Prof. Nadeem Qamar for fulfilling her dream of a facility where the poor could bring their children and avail free of charge cardiac treatment services in Tando Muhammad Khan.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Nadeem Qamar said it was the third satellite after Sukkur and Larkana where the facility of open heart surgery is now available and added very soon cardiac surgery would be made available at the other satellite centers of the NICVD in the province.“Our training program is in full swing and soon we would be able to post permanent surgeons at each and every Satellite Center in Sindh”, he said adding the NICVD surgeons have already performed over 100 successful heart surgeries at the NICVD with zero mortality during the last one year. Qamar said they now have a team of five pediatric cardiac surgeons who have joined from hospitals in Karachi and abroad and added by the time, their 250-bed pediatric unit is completed, the NICVD would have one of the best pediatric surgery teams in the world.

To a query, Prof. Nadeem Qamar said they are ready to open satellite centers in other provinces but the decision would be taken by the Sindh government. The Chief of Surgery at NICVD, Prof. Fazle Rabbi, said they have successfully operated upon a 52-year-old patient at the NICVD’s Satellite Center at Tando Muhammad Khan. The patient is now recovering well, Prof Fazle Rabbi said. He claimed the training programme is producing quality cardiac surgeons who would be permanently posted at the eight satellite and cardiac centers of the NICVD, Sindh and hoped they would become independent cardiac care hospitals.