Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab has said development work in the city should be carried out through the local government.
He expressed these views while speaking to media representatives after inaugurating the new Cath Lab at the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD).
On this occasion, Deputy Mayor Karachi Salman Abdullah Murad, Deputy Parliamentary Leader in City Council Dil Muhammad, Jaman Darwan, doctors, paramedical staff, and others were also present.
The Mayor said that since the Pakistan People’s Party has taken charge of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, sincere efforts have been made to improve the heart hospital. In the past, this institution was non-functional, and citizens had to go to NICVD for treatment, although every minute is precious for a cardiac patient. Keeping this need in view, KIHD was reactivated, and with the grace of Allah and the available resources, the Cath Lab has been restored, he said.
He said that in the past year alone, more than 3,000 heart surgeries have been carried out, while 240 angioplasties have been performed.
He further said that the Bohra community, after witnessing our efforts, extended their support, and today the hospital has its second Cath Lab functional. Just yesterday, 13 patients underwent cardiac operations.
He added, “Our aim is to ease people’s sufferings and to restore the dignity and credibility of the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases. This institution will be made more effective and improved so that citizens can receive facilities here that private hospitals charge hundreds of thousands of rupees for — and here all these facilities are provided free of cost.”
The Mayor announced that within the next two months, a free laboratory will be launched at the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, where costly medical tests will be provided entirely free of charge. The machinery for this purpose has already arrived in Pakistan and soon this facility will be available to the public.
He further said that the Shah Faisal Colony Cardiac Center is also being revived, while Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, which was established by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1974, is preparing to open a new block that will be available to the public within one to two months.
He added that in the past, due to various obstacles, hospitals could not be made functional. After the restoration of Spencer Eye Hospital, 200 eye operations have been performed, while the contract for North Karachi Children’s Hospital has expired, which the Sindh government now intends to run itself. In this regard, the Sindh Health Minister can provide further details.