Health facility: Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology becomes operational

The 272-bed facility was built at a cost of Rs2.8b in two years.

RAWALPINDI: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will spend a busy day in the twin cities on Monday. First he will distribute laptops among students and then he will attend a briefing at the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, which became operational on Saturday with the successful angiography of three patients.        

Elaborating the salient features of the treatment facilities at the institute, noted cardiologist and RIC Chief Executive Prof Dr Azhar Mahmood Kayani said 50 specialist doctors will provide treatment to the patients round-the-clock.

But that is not all. A renowned surgeon and heart transplantation expert from London, Dr Hasnat Khan, would come to Pakistan in March to operate in the hospital, Dr Kayani said. Technicians and nursing staff from the team will also impart training to the staff of the hospital.

Parents of children with heart problems will also have an alternative to India. The hospital, Dr Kayani said, has hired the services of specialist doctors who deal with children. The RIC will house a separate department for children. The department has all the facilities for cardiology and surgery of the children.

The department has a separate operation theatre and ICU, Dr Kayani said.

The RIC, he said, is “fully equipped” with the state-of-the-art machinery and will provide free treatment in emergency and to poor patients. The doctor expects the hospital to primarily cater to patients from the twin cities, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Built at a cost of Rs2.8 billion at Rawal Road in two years, the 272-bed RIC is spread over 80 kanals of land and will be able to handle 400 patients at a time and up to 1,000 daily.

The RIC also has a modern emergency department with 48 beds. Other departments at the hospital include a 24-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and a 14-bed Coronary Care Unit (CCU). The hospital has four operation theatres, Dr Kayani said, adding that it is the only hospital in the twin cities where the emergency would have 48 beds, 26 ventilators and five CT angiography machines.

The machinery for the hospital has been imported from Germany and Japan and beds from Italy. Professor Kayani said the hospital provides all the laboratory test facilities like echocardiography, blood tests and X-ray. He said the very latest X-ray system has been installed in the hospital where instead of film, the X-ray is taken through the CR system and the report is sent to the doctors via computers directly.

He said the hospital would have the facility to place stent in blocked arteries as well, which would cost between Rs80,000 to Rs150,000.

Nine colour dopplers have also been installed for ultrasound test of blood vessels, he said, adding that the hospital would have the records of patients on the computer, with no need for paperwork in future.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2013.