Health department wants KIHD handed over to NICVD

Sindh’s health department has forwarded a summary to the chief minister for the handing over of the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD) to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) to turn it into a satellite centre of the NICVD, officials said on Thursday.

“Comments and opinions from the law and local government departments are being sought before the acceptance of the summary and the issuance of the notification,” said a health department official.

Comprising 170 beds, the KIHD was established by former Karachi mayor Naimatullah Khan to provide cardiac-care facilities to the residents of the Central and East districts. It started functioning in June 2005.

However, its condition and services deteriorated as the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), which financially supports the health institution, also started facing financial constraints, resulting in the deterioration of services at the KIHD.

The health department official said that technically, the summary recommends handing over the KIHD to the Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (SICVD), which was established by the provincial government in 2019.

The official explained that this was done because of the apprehension that Karachi’s three major hospitals, which include the NICVD, would be handed over to the federal government following the Supreme Court’s decision.

“The summary moved to the provincial chief executive says the KIHD should be made the headquarters of the SICVD. But after a recent development in the Council of Common Interests meeting, it is hoped that the NICVD and the other two hospitals would remain under provincial control.”

He said that if the NICVD continues to be managed by the Sindh government, the KIHD would work as one of its satellite centres just like several others that are currently working in Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Mithi, Nawabshah, Sehwan, Larkana, Sukkur and

Khairpur.

NICVD Executive Director Prof Nadeem Qamar also confirmed that the health department has recommended to the CM that the KIHD be handed over to them to be turned into a satellite centre. He said that once the KIHD is handed over to them, they will start providing state-of-the-art cardiac care.

“Former city mayor Wasim Akhtar wanted us to take over the KIHD and had made several requests, but we couldn’t do so without the provincial government’s approval and the provision of a separate budget,” said Prof Qamar.

“Now, once the provincial government notifies that the KIHD has been handed over to us and a separate budget is allocated, we’ll start running it like we’re managing eight other satellite centres throughout the province.”

He said that the KIHD was a purpose-built cardiac-care facility, most of whose doctors, surgeons, technicians and nurses had been trained at the NICVD. The technical staff of the KIHD will be offered refresher courses to bring them on a par with the staff of the NICVD.

“We have also requested the authorities to give us at least three months to bring the KIHD to our standards. We’ll continue providing emergency services while renovating and equipping the facility in those three months, while all major procedures and surgeries will be carried out at the NICVD before making KIHD functional as our satellite centre.”

Replying to a query, he said the KIHD will technically be handed over to the SICVD, for which a bill was passed by the provincial assembly in 2019. However, he added, the KMC-run institute will in fact be handed over to the NICVD to be turned into a satellite centre.