‘NICVD now world’s largest facility for free cardiac surgeries, primary PCIs’

The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) has become the only healthcare facility in the world to have performed over 4,000 cardiac surgeries and 8,197 primary PCIs free of charge in a single year.

NICVD Executive Director Prof Nadeem Qamar said this on Wednesday. According to Prof Qamar, teams of NICVD surgeons performed the aforesaid cardiac surgeries on children and adults in various cities of Sindh during 2018.

“NICVD has emerged as the only cardiac healthcare facility in the world which performed around 4,000 cardiac surgeries, over 12,000 procedures [and] dozens of cardiac implants, all free of charge at our main centre in Karachi and eight satellite centres spread all over Sindh,” the NICVD head said.

Prof Qamar claimed that the NICVD also emerged as one of the largest centres in the world in terms of performing primary PCI or angioplasty after heart attack as well as elective angioplasties in a single year. Cardiologists at the NICVD performed 8,197 primary PCIs during 2018, he said. “We are the only cardiac facility in the world where 4,286 elective angioplasties were performed, all free of charge, while 9,052 angiographies were also carried out during the last one year,” the NICVD executive director maintained.

Regarding the number of cardiac patients examined at the main facility of the institute in Karachi, Prof Qamar said the NICVD Karachi received 1.12 million cardiac patients, of whom 3,847 required surgeries and were operated.

A record number of 8,197 primary PCIs or angioplasties in emergency, around 4,200 elective angioplasties, over 9,000 angiographies, 20 TAVI procedures, 3,434 thallium scans and 55,258 echocardiograms were performed by the NICVD Karachi in 2018, the institute head said.

According to Prof Qamar, 410,175 cardiac patients visited the OPD at the NICVD Karachi in 2018, while 326,587 patients were treated in emergency and more than 60,000 patients admitted to the wards. “NICVD Karachi has also performed more than 120 minimally invasive cardiac surgery or keyhole surgeries, which were performed by renowned cardiac surgeon Dr Pervaiz Chaudhry who joined the NICVD by leaving his practice in United States,” the NICVD head said.

Satellite centres

Apart from Karachi where the main facility of the NICVD exists, the institute has been operating through its satellite centres in eight other parts of Sindh, including Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sehwan, Tando Muhammad Khan, Mithi, Larkana, Khairpur and Sukkur.

All the satellite centres offer diagnosis facilities and other procedures. The centres at Sukkur, Larkana and Tando Muhammad Khan even have facilities of open-heart and bypass surgeries.

“Our satellites in Sukkur, Larkana and Tando Muhammad Khan have started open-heart surgeries,” Prof Qamar said, adding that 130 open-heart surgeries were performed at the NICVD Sukkur with zero mortality. A total of 137,702 cardiac patients were treated at the NICVD facility in Sukkur, 160,028 in Tando Muhammad Khan, 43,914 in Larkana, 38,345 in Nawabshah, 33,431 in Hyderabad, 22,436 in Sehwan, 27,689 in Khairpur and 13,831 in Mithi, the NICVD head said.

Chest Pain Units (CPUs)

Besides its satellite centres spread all over Sindh, the centre has also opened small units, named chest pain units, in various locations of Karachi so that in case of emergency, patients living nearby could receive first aid as soon as possible.

“There are currently a total of seven chest pain units, which are located at Gulshan Chowrangi Flyover, Gulbai Flyover, Qayyumabad Chowrangi Flyover, Malir Halt Flyover, Nagan Chowrangi Flyover, near II Chundrigar Road and Lyari General Hospital,” Prof Qamar said.

The NICVD head added that more than 150, 000 patients were treated at these units, of whom 5,000 patients had suffered from severe heart attacks and they were immediately shifted to the main NICVD for primary angioplasty. Prof Qamar also announced that 10 more chest pain units would be established at different locations in Karachi within the next two months.