‘No plan to change NICVD’s name’

Categorically denying reports about a possible change in the name of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, the Sindh government on Tuesday said it would only retain its assets in interior Sindh in case the Supreme Court decides to give NICVD back in the administrative control of the federal government.

“NICVD’s name is not being changed and it would remain the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases no matter what the outcome of the case in the Supreme Court is,” a senior official of the Sindh health department told The News. “But if the court decides that this institute should be given back in the administrative control of the federal government, the Sindh government would retain its assets in Sukkur, Larkana, Hyderabad and other cities of Sindh.”

Suggestions for renaming NICVD the Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (SICVD) were presented to the Sindh chief minister in the previous provincial government, but Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had rejected these suggestions, arguing that NICVD was a national institute and the provincial government should not convert a national institute into a provincial hospital.

According to the official, the issue resurfaced again after some elements, trying to become more loyal to the king himself, suggested renaming NICVD into SICVD but the provincial high-ups turned down the suggestion once again, saying NICVD in Karachi would remain a national institute.

“If the Supreme Court of Pakistan decides that this institute should remain in the administrative control of the Sindh government, there would be no change in its nomenclature. But if the decision says it should be managed by the federal government, the Sindh government could rename Satellite Centres in Sukkur, Larkana, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Sehwan and Nawabshah as SICVD” he said.

The official maintained that the Sindh government had spent billions of rupees on the opening of six satellite centres of NICVD in different cities where state-of-the-art equipment, machinery, material resources and trained and qualified manpower had been provided to perform the most sophisticated procedures and surgeries to provide quality cardiac care health facilities to the people.

He said following a decision in favour of the federal government, the Sindh government could move a bill in the provincial assembly for detaching all the Satellite Centres and renaming them SICVD. “But in any case, the main NICVD in Karachi would remain a national institute whatever the outcome of the case.”