Karachi: The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) included 10 hospitals and 24 Chest Pain Units, has become the only healthcare facility in the world to have treated over 2.2 million patients and performed 3,641 cardiac surgeries and 19,888 primary PCIs free of charge in 2022.
NICVD Spokesperson said this on Friday. According to him, teams of NICVD surgeons performed the aforesaid cardiac surgeries and procedures on children and adults in various cities of Sindh during 2022.
“NICVD has emerged as the only cardiac healthcare facility in the country which performed around 3,641 cardiac surgeries and over 74,758 procedures all free of charge at main NICVD centre in Karachi and nine satellite centres spread all over Sindh,” the NICVD’s spokesperson said.
He added 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 Karachi performed 9,466 primary PCIs in the year of 2022. Moreover; a total of 86 interventions in acute stroke procedures were done so far.
Regarding the number of cardiac patients examined at the main facility of the institute in Karachi, the spokesperson said the NICVD Karachi received 1,138,240 cardiac patients, of whom 2,768 required surgeries and were operated.
“A record number of 9,466 primary PCIs or angioplasties in emergency, around 3,735 elective angioplasties & early invasive, over 17,470 angiographies, 18 TAVI procedures, 2,196 thallium scans, 51,420 echocardiograms, 914 PPM, and 134 ICD & CRT procedures, were performed by the NICVD Karachi in 2022”, the institute spokesperson said.
He further said that, 304,414 cardiac patients visited the OPD at the NICVD Karachi in 2022, while 276,865 patients were treated in emergency and more than 51,162 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 2022, a total of 275,568 patients visited NICVD system from other provinces of the country, which were provided free treatment. A total of 63,639 patients from Punjab, 184,387 from Balochistan, 12,492 from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, 13,102 from Azad Kashmir and 1,948 from Gilgit-Baltistan benefited from the latest and expensive treatment absolutely free.
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 cardiac procedures. The centres at Sukkur, Larkana, Tando Muhammad Khan and Hyderabad even have facilities of open-heart and bypass surgeries, included paediatric cardiac surgeries as well. Adding that 873 open-heart surgeries were performed at these centres during 2022.
A total of 214,254 cardiac patients were treated at the NICVD facility in Sukkur, 165,994 in Tando Muhammad Khan, 118,613 in Larkana, 30,922 in Nawabshah, 135,895 in Hyderabad, 21,983 in Sehwan, 50,410 in Khairpur, 30,979 in Mithi, and 62,258 in Lyri” in 2022, the NICVD spokesperson said.
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 24 chest pain units, 17 CPUs are in Karachi, 1 in Ghotki, 1 in Tando Bago, 1 in Jacobabad, 1 in Umerkot 1 in Tando Allahyar, 1 in Mirpurkhas and 1 in Shikarpur” he said.
The NICVD spokesperson added that more than 295,634 patients were treated at these units, of whom 7,662 patients had suffered from severe heart attacks and they were immediately shifted to the main NICVD for primary angioplasty in 2022. 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 Nadeem Qamar said that NICVD’s motto is to provide state-of-the-art cardiac treatment to everyone at their doorstep, totally free of cost.
