KARACHI: Eminent cardiologist Dr Khawar Kazmi claimed that as per latest data of World Health Organisation (WHO), at least 30 persons were dying every hour in Pakistan due to heart disease. He said this was an alarming figure as one person was dying somewhere in Pakistan every two minutes due to the condition. Dr Kazmi was speaking at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases’s (NICVD) launching ceremony of a preventive cardiology programme on the eve of World Heart Day, 2018, on Friday. “In this scenario, where 250,000 people die annually in Pakistan, we not only need more treatment facilities but also a comprehensive preventive cardiology programme and strategy to protect people from cardiovascular diseases,” said Prof Kazmi, adding that this was a defining day in the history of NICVD. He said Pakistan was becoming a nation of ‘diseased and disabled’ persons as every third youngster was hypertensive while every fourth person was diabetic. Adviser to the Chief Minister for Information Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who was the chief guest, said that the Sindh government had enhanced NICVD’s budget 120 times and increased it to Rs8.5 billion from just Rs700 million in 2012-13. NICVD Executive Director Prof Nadeem Qamar announced the new programme. Prof Qamar said the institution had decided to focus on preventing people from acquiring heart disease so that they could become productive members of society. Declaring the media and government as two major partners in the preventive cardiology programme, Prof Qamar urged the two groups to support them and convey their messages to far flung areas of the country. Source: The Express Tribune (September 29, 2018)