KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday announced that National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) Karachi will get a new building. Besides that NICVD’s satellite center at Syed Abdullah Shah Institute of Health Sciences (SASIHS) Sehwan to be made functional by the end of the year. He said this while presiding over the NICVD governing body meeting here at the CM House. On the occasion, a signing ceremony to establish the NICVD’s satellite center at Syed Abdullah Shah institute of health Sciences (SASIHS)was also signed. On behalf of NICVD its executive director Dr Nadeem Qamar and Director and Director SASIHS Moinuddin Siddiqui signed the agreement. On this the chief minister directed the both the directors to make Sehwan satellite center functional by the end of December 2017. CM further said that the main building of the NICVD is 50 years old and his government was trying to spare funds to reconstruct it to create more and more space. “I am quite glad to note that the patients from Balochistan, Punjab and KPK also comeing here for their treatment and they return healthy,” “this is the service the NICVD gives to ailing humanity. The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICV) Karachi during the last 30 months has performed 9,058 primary angioplasties which makes it the largest primary PCI Center of the world. NICVD’s executive director Dr Nadeem Qamar while briefing the governing body disclosed that the primary angioplasty was started in May 2015. This is when a patient with acute myocardial infection is taken to Cath lab, his arteries are opened with coronary angioplasty. The participants were informed that cardiac surgeries have jumped up to 200 per month and “we expect to carry on the trend with targeting approximately 3000 surgeries per year,” which previously stood at 1300 surgeries. The surgical ICU has been expanded from 20 beds to 34 beds. Dr Nadeem said that Echo department has been restricted, adding 11 new machines and additional staff, the number of echos have gone up from 70 per day to 350 per day. This has also resulted in a much reduced echo waiting time. Published in Daily Times, August 16th 2017.