NICVD cardiologists perform first cardiac procedures at Larkana satellite centre

KARACHI: A team of top cardiologists and technicians from the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), led by Prof Nadeem Rizvi, performed five cardiac procedures, including three primary PCIs, at the first satellite centre established at the Civil Hospital Larkana on Saturday.

The cardiologists had reached Larkana on Friday evening to make the satellite centre functional by performing angioplasties and other pediatric cardiology procedures.

“Prof Nadeem Rizvi and Dr Javed Sial along with a team of technicians have performed five cardiac procedures, including primary PCIs, on patients having heart attacks at the first NICVD satellite centre established at the Civil Hospital Larkana,” NICVD Executive Director Prof Nadeem Qamar told The News.

Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, daughter of former president Asif Ali Zardari and the late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, congratulated the NICVD on stating interventional cardiology services in Larkana.

In her tweet, she posted pictures of surgeons and technicians performing cardiac procedures, announcing the start of interventional cardiology services in Larkana.

The NICVD’s satellite centre in Larkana is among the seven such centers to be established in various areas of the province so that people from those areas could be provided quality treatment for heart ailments near their homes instead of them travelling all the way to Karachi.

“We are opening three more such centres in Tando Muhammad Khan, Sukkur and Sehwan and they are all expected to start functioning in 2017. Three more centres in Nawabshah, Khairpur and Mirpurkhas will be operational in 2018,” Prof Qamar said and added that the centers would be a big relief for the people of interior Sindh.

He said pediatric cardiac facilities would also be provided at the centres so that parents should not have to bring their children to Karachi for echo and other smaller procedures.

A state-of-the art new building for the cardiology centre is also under construction in Larkana, which would be completed by the end of the current year.

“Upon the completion of this new cardiology building, the satellite centre would be shifted in it and it would cater to around 50-60 patients at a time,” said Prof Qamar.

He said the NICVD was committed to providing state-of-the-art cardiac service to everyone living in the province at their doorstep. He thanked the Sindh government for providing endless support to make this possible.

“We are training our cardiologists and technicians to serve at these satellite centers while newly hired cardiologists and technicians are being asked to sign undertaking that they would serve at least for year years at any of these centers. This way, we hope to make them a big