KARACHI - National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) has embarked on an ambitious expansion program focussed on providing series of updated medical, interventional and surgical services to heart patients across the province. Executive Director, NICVD, Prof Nadeem Qamar in a press conference Tuesday said all these services are being provided absolutely free of cost to 95% of the patients visiting or admitted to NICVD as well as its associated facilities. He said with the motive to provide interventional cardiology services to the people of Sindh at their doorsteps NICVD’s first satellite center is already functional at Larkana. “We are providing state of the art services through our Larkana facility and have also performed more than 100 angioplasties in few months’ time,” said Dr. Nadeem Qamar. NICVD satellite centers at Tando Muhammad Khan, Sukkur and Sehwan are in process of completion while three more will be operational at Nawabshah, Khairpur and Mirpurkhas by next year,” said the NICVD chief. In reply to question, he said since the introduction of absolutely free of charge services to the general in-patients and out-patients, only recently, a surge in the number of patients from other provinces is also being registered at NICVD, Karachi. To another query, he said NICVD has also launched outreach Chest Pain Units at different localities of Karachi and has attended 9,415 patients in almost two and a half years’ time. About free services provided to the patients, the senior cardiologist said these include all diagnostic facilities along with angiography, primary and elective coronary angioplasty, echocardiography, stress echography, thallium scan, cardiac enzymes along with provision for pacemakers and other life saving devices. In certain cases, NICVD has been first institution across the country offering free some of the most updated facilities; he said and referred to implantation of series of life saving devices. “NICVD with the support of provincial government is committed to meet the needs of ever growing number of cardiac patients in the country,” said Dr Nadeem Qamar. Source: The Nation