RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) has become the first hospital in South Asia to use the MitraClip procedure for heart treatment. The MitraClip (Abbott Vascular) technique is the world’s first therapy to treat mitral regurgitation (leakage of blood backward through the mitral valve). It targets patients who can not undergo an open-heart surgery, usually older patients for whom the surgery is considered too risky. At RIC, the procedure was performed on Pakistan former president Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, making the institute first in Pakistan, as well as the region, to use this technique successfully. The technique carries some risk of complications but no such case has yet been reported at the hospital, RIC head Major General (retd) Dr Azhar Mehmood Kayani said. He added that the MitraClip procedure was implemented in the United States and Europe at costs as high as Rs 10 million but the RIC performed it for Rs 4 million. Moreover, the RIC head termed this achievement as an “honour” for Pakistan.