Pakistan's first heart transplant centre opened

LAHORE:

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Friday inaugurated Pakistan's first heart transplant centre at the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology, announcing that the provincial government would provide the treatment free of charge to deserving patients.

She also announced the establishment of a special fund for the purpose, saying the Punjab government would bear up to $50,000 for a heart transplant.

The chief minister formally opened the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology, a 250-bed state-of-the-art facility built at a cost of Rs16 billion. The hospital has been equipped with modern cardiac care facilities, including a catheterisation laboratory, MRI, modular operation theatres, cardiac wards, pathology and radiology laboratories, intensive care and emergency departments.

The CM visited the heart transplant centre, angiography suite, diagnostic rooms, outpatient department and other sections of the hospital. She inspected the latest heart-lung machine, high-end Tesla MRI and other advanced medical equipment installed at the facility.

Treatment of cardiac patients has commenced at the institute.

The chief minister praised internationally renowned UK-based cardiologist Dr Hasnat Khan for returning to Pakistan to serve patients.

Speaking to doctors and nurses, CM Maryam Nawaz urged them to serve patients as patriotic Pakistanis. "We have to change the mindset that good work can only be done abroad," she said, according to a handout.

The chief minister also announced the introduction of home dialysis machines in Punjab.

The chief minister said the Pakistan Institute of Cardiology (PIC) established by former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was doing an excellent job in Lahore, a city with a population of around 30 million. "People from Punjab as well as Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Khyber'Pakhtunkhwa come to the PIC. With the growing prevalence of heart diseases, it had become difficult to cater to everyone through a single public sector hospital," she said.

She expressed satisfaction that the Jinnah institute had become fully functional and angiography had been performed there.

The chief minister said comparing Pakistan with Western countries was a favourite practice, but Pakistan was only 79 years old. "Some Western countries have populations smaller than Lahore or even a locality here," she said.

"Medicines, surgeries and procedures are provided free of charge, while medicines are also delivered to people's homes. In which country does this happen?" she asked.

She acknowledged that there was room for improvement in the public healthcare system. "Unfortunately, medicines, injections and insulin are stolen, staff members take money, and hospital machinery is deliberately rendered dysfunctional through collusion," she said.

Despite these challenges, treating 100 million people in government hospitals was no ordinary achievement, she added.

"Unfortunately, one party's focus is on agitation and another's on corruption, whereas the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's ethos is rooted in service and development," she said.

CM Maryam Nawaz said that, by the grace of Allah Almighty, Pakistan's first heart transplant centre was being launched. She said heart transplantation was an expensive treatment and cost around $50,000.

"By using Chinese technology, we will bring down the cost of a heart transplant to around $10,000 so that more people can benefit from this facility," she said.