Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif officially launched ‘Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme’ for the free treatment and surgery of children with heart disease, during her visit to Lahore’s Children’s Hospital Cardiac Surgery Ward, here on Monday. The CM distributed ‘Child Surgery Cards’ among the deserving patients under the Programme. She said the operation of a sick child will be done in a private hospital if there is no place in the government hospitals. She inspected HDU and other departments of the hospital, and reviewed various facilities available in the cardiac surgery ward. The CM inquired about the well-being of young patients, gave them gifts and also played Ludo with them. She interacted with the children, and prayed, “May Allah Almighty grant you health, we all pray for you.” She also talked to the parents of the sick children, and inquired them about the availability of various facilities. She said, “It is my mission to free every citizen of Punjab, including children, from the system of queues and waiting.” She added the number of specialist surgeons and allied staff will be increased to multiply the capacity of pediatric heart surgery in government hospitals. Maryam Nawaz said in the first phase, pediatric heart surgery facility is being provided in government and designated private hospitals including PIC and Children’s Hospital Lahore, Multan’s Children’s and PIC, and Faisalabad and Rawalpindi Cardiology Institutes. In the second phase, facilities for pediatric heart surgery will also be provided in the hospitals of Wazirabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur and Sargodha. She also observed the dashboard developed to monitor the Programme. The CM also visited the ‘play area’ for children with heart diseases in the Children’s Hospital Lahore, and reviewed various facilities available for them there. She said the provision of modern facilities of children’s heart surgery is a sincere effort to wipe the tears of mothers and remove the diseases of young children. The CM was briefed by the authorities concerned that more than 5,000 young children die every year due to lack of timely heart surgery. She said in Pakistan’s first treatment center for children, sick children from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces will also be treated. She added children suffering from heart diseases will not have to wait for long.