NICVD chalks out ambitious development plan

MN Report

Karachi: Chief Operating Officer of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) said here that the hospital’s administration with a view to coping up with rush of ever-increasing patients has decided to expand the health facility’s emergency and out-door patients department (OPD).

Speaking at a news conference at a local hotel, the NICVD’s CEO Azra Maqsood said that under the hospital’s plan of expanding its OPD and emergency services, a new building, measuring 80,000 square-feet, will be constructed within the premises of the health facility.

Vowing to make NICVD a model cardiac hospital in the near future, she said that the health facility being one of the largest cardiac facilities in term of patients’ turnover, has launched an aggressive plan for improving patients’ care since February 2015. The plan, she added, envisages induction of professional management at senior level, more specialized doctors and nurses, and other advanced facilities, including contemporary procedures with the latest machines and equipment.

She said over 2,500 primary angioplasties had been performed at NICVD since May 2015 on highly subsidized rates or free of cost.

She informed newsmen that NICVD is the first public cardiac hospital that had performed a successful Transcatheter Aortic Vavle Implantation (TAVI).

She further said that the health facility’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) had already been expanded from 12 beds to 26 beds with an additional eight beds in the pediatrics ICU. Besides, on call response team has also been mobilized to ensure prompt response in emergency cases, she added.

Prof Zia Yaqoob, Dr Tahir Saghir, Shahid Abdullah and Amin Hashwani were also present at the press conference.