Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz has inaugurated Pakistan’s first cardiac transplant centre at the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology (JIC) in Lahore, announcing that the government will cover all procedure costs for deserving patients.
The state-funded JIC features 250 beds and was constructed right opposite Jinnah Hospital’s residential area for a whopping Rs16 billion.
The facility includes a catheterisation laboratory, MRI [Magnetic Resonance Imaging] equipment, modular operation theatres, cardiac wards, pathology and radiology laboratories, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and an emergency department.
Angiography procedures are already underway at the autonomous facility.
“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,” CM Maryam said during the inauguration ceremony.
She stated that the state would cover expenses up to $50,000 per procedure to ensure access for patients in need. “Heart transplant procedures at the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology will be done 100 percent free of cost. We have established Pakistan’s first-of-its-kind heart transplant centre.”
The CM also emphasised a shift in public perception regarding local medical infrastructure.
“We have to change the mindset that better treatment can only be provided abroad. I tell ministers, bureaucracy, officers, doctors and everyone entrusted with responsibility that if we discharge our trust in the best possible manner, we will receive the best reward,” she said.
While it was reported that United Kingdom (UK) based cardiologist Dr Hasnat Khan has joined the project to train medical staff and doctors, the CM revealed that public hospitals treated roughly 100 million patients last year with free medication, surgeries and home delivery services.
“Unfortunately, medicines, injections and insulin are stolen, staff members take money and hospital machinery is deliberately rendered dysfunctional,” she admitted, addressing operational flaws in the health sector.
The provincial chief executive also announced plans to introduce home dialysis machines across Punjab and directed Infrastructure IDAP CEO Shah Mir Iqbal to expedite the development of the planned Medical District.
