KARACHI (By Lala Hassan Pathan/ ENN) The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) included 10 hospitals and 22 Chest Pain Units, has become the only healthcare facility in the world to have treated around 1.9 million patients and performed over 3,227 cardiac surgeries with over 17,000 primary PCIs free of charge in 2021, told NICVD Spokesperson on Tuesday. According to him, teams of NICVD surgeons performed the aforesaid cardiac surgeries and procedures on children and adults in various cities of Sindh during 2021.
“NICVD has emerged as the only cardiac healthcare facility in the country which performed around 3,227 cardiac surgeries and over 66,518 procedures all free of charge at main NICVD centre in Karachi and nine satellite centres spread all over Sindh,” the NICVD’s spokesperson added.
He further told that the NICVD Karachi also emerged as one of the largest centres in the world in terms of performing primary PCI or angioplasty during heart attack as well as elective angioplasties in a single year. Cardiologists at the NICVD performed 8,110 primary PCIs in a single year.
Regarding the number of cardiac patients examined at the main facility of the institute in Karachi, the spokesperson said the NICVD Karachi received around 1 million cardiac patients, of whom 2,692 required surgeries and were operated.
“A record number of 8,110 primary PCIs or angioplasties in emergency, around 3,465 elective angioplasties and early invasive, over 16,186 angiographies, 4 TAVI procedures, 2,962 thallium scans, 56,425 echocardiograms, 748 PPM, and 135 ICD & CRT procedures, were performed by the NICVD Karachi during 2021”, the spokesperson.
He further said that, 187,653 cardiac patients visited the OPD at the NICVD Karachi in 2021, while 257,935 patients were treated in emergency and more than 41,000 patients admitted to the wards. NICVD Karachi has also performed more than 20 minimally invasive cardiac surgery or keyhole surgeries.
He added that during the year 2021, a total of 191,638 patients visited NICVD system from other provinces of the country, who were provided free treatment. A total of 51,178 patients from Punjab, 125,117 from Balochistan, 8,338 from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, 5,369 from Azad Kashmir and 2,716 from Gilgit-Baltistan benefited from the latest and expensive treatment absolutely free.
*NICVD Satellite centres*
Apart from Karachi where the main facility of the NICVD exists, the institute has been operating through its nine satellite centres, including Larkana, Tando Muhammad Khan, Hyderabad, Sehwan, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Mithi, Khairpur and Lyari.
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, included paediatric cardiac surgeries as well.
“Our satellites in Sukkur, Larkana and Tando Muhammad Khan have been performing open-heart surgeries,” the spokesperson said, adding that 1,170 open-heart surgeries were performed at the NICVD Sukkur with 1% mortality, over 400 cardiac surgeries at the NICVD Tando Muhammad Khan and 12 cardiac surgeries at NICVD Larkana so far. A total of 197,048 cardiac patients were treated at the NICVD facility in Sukkur, 153,476 in Tando Muhammad Khan, 106,529 in Larkana, 22,687 in Nawabshah, 90,316 in Hyderabad, 20,078 in Sehwan, 39,800 in Khairpur, 27,772 in Mithi, and 48,037 in Lyri” in 2021, the NICVD spokesperson said.
*NICVD Chest Pain Units (CPUs)*
Besides satellite centres spread all over Sindh, the centre has also opened small units, named chest pain units, in various locations of Karachi and other cities of the province so that in case of emergency, patients living nearby could receive first aid as soon as possible.
“There are currently a total of 22 chest pain units, 17 CPUs are in Karachi, 1 in Ghotki, 1 in Tando Bago, 1 in Jacobabad, 1 in Umerkot and 1 in Tando Allahyar,” he said.
The NICVD spokesperson added that more than 211, 917 patients were treated at these units, of whom 4,058 patients had suffered from severe heart attacks and they were immediately shifted to the main NICVD for primary angioplasty in 2021. 10 more chest pain units would soon be established at different locations in Karachi and other cities of the province.
The Executive Director of NICVD Professor Syed Nadeem Qamar Shah said that our motto is to provide state-of-the-art cardiac treatment to everyone at their doorstep, totally free of cost.
It is pertinent to note that Cardiac facilities in rural areas have saved many lives as people in case of heart attacks could not access Karachi.
