Local Government minister inaugurates NICVD’s 12th Chest Pain Unit in Karachi

Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Sunday inaugurated the 12th Chest Pain Unit of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) beneath Manzil Pump flyover near Quaid-e-Abad.

Speaking on the occasion, he advised other provincial governments to “follow the footsteps of Pakistan Peoples Party in serving society without any discrimination”. “The NICVD is a flagship programme of the PPP and its 14 Chest Pain Units and 10 Satellite Centres are not only serving heart patients of Sindh but patients from other provinces are also coming to Karachi to avail quality treatment being offered free of charge,” said Shah, who cut the ribbon to inaugurate the CPU along with PPP MNA Syed Agha Rafiullah and Minister for Katchi Abadies Murtaza Baloch

Shah said the NICVD was not only a cardiac care facility but it had also evolved into a “revolutionary health programme under the leadership of Prof Nadeem Qamar, who has converted a single hospital into a chain of 24 health facilities in the entire province within a few years”.

“The [hospital’s] container inaugurated today is a complete cardiac care facility, and such containers have saved thousands of lives in Karachi. People from other countries are closely monitoring this programme and trying to replicate it in their congested cities,” he claimed.

The local government minister said as per the vision of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the Sindh government was launching development projects in the province. He claimed that by June 2020, the Sindh government would inaugurate 171 new development projects in Karachi alone.

Advising other provincial governments in the country to “learn from the experience of the NICVD”, he urged them to initiate projects which are being carried out the Sindh government in the area of health.

Shah vowed to continue serving the people of Sindh “as per the vision and guidance of the PPP chairman”.

NICVD Executive Director Prof Nadeem Qamar said they had received many requests from citizens to set up new Chest Pain Units in different areas of Karachi. He said the CPU programme had “emerged as the most successful programme in the cardiac care area in the world”.

“These 14 containers have saved over 7,200 lives during the last one and a half years,” Prof Qamar said

NICVD officials maintained they had established 14 Chest Pain Units in Karachi during the last two years, of which the CPU in Lyari had been converted into a Satellite Centre with facilities of angiography and angioplasty while the one under the Gulbai Flyover was gutted due to fire when an oil tanker exploded near it a few months back. The rest of 12 Chest Pain Units in Karachi and two in other areas of Sindh are functioning round the clock.