Major diagnostic machines lying out of order at NICVD Larkana

LARKANA: According to sources, both angiography machines kept at the NICVD’s Larkana Unit have been lying out of order for the past 15 days due to which angioplasty procedures for heart patients have been stopped.

All the affected patients were either being referred to Sukkur, Khairpur, Gambat, or Karachi. Approximately eight to ten patients require angiography daily. Heart-attack emergency patients were being referred to other units, which was burdensome for the needy patients as they cannot afford costly treatment, as per credible sources.

Cardiac patients from Baluchistan were also brought here beside patients from all five districts of the Larkana Division who, too, have been deprived of this essential life-saving facility.

Sources noted that due to the dispute between the federal and the Sindh government over the ownership of the NICVD and other federal government hospitals, all other units were suffering. The poverty-stricken ailing people whose lives have been put on high risk by this dispute, were being affected. “Nobody is taking the initiative to resolve the matter quickly,” sources said.

The attendants of various patients said that their patients were being denied treatment at this center on the pretext of dysfunctional angiography machines for the past 15 days. They said they had no resources to shift the poor patients to Karachi, Hyderabad, or elsewhere to save their precious lives.

The affected patients further noted that NICVD had only one ambulance, which could not cater to the needs of a large number of cardiac patients. At a time, the ambulance could shift only one patient, whereas patients from Baluchistan and five districts of Larkana division were also brought here for treatment. Patients have to either wait till the ambulance returns or are forced to hire private ambulances.

NICVD building due to which the machine had been temporarily closed for software installation. The process took one week. The machine will be operational within this week. Incharge, Dr Fayaz Ahmed told reporters that the angiography machine was not out of order, and the old machine, which was in the old building, had also been shifted to the new

Larkana's social worker and comedy artist, Shoaib Baban Memon, reported with a cardiac problem and was referred to Sukkur despite the availability of the same facility in Larkana.

It was ironic that the people of Larkana were now going to Sukkur for the treatment of heart ailments despite the availability of the same facility in Larkana. The government did not have the funds to get their essential diagnostic machines repaired, which was very unfortunate, they added.

Cardiac patients demanded the PPP Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, to take immediate notice of the issue and fulfill his mother, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s vision of giving top priority to health and education sectors, which were now the most neglected.

-MN Report