KARACHI: President FPCCI, Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo Tuesday expressed his profound concerns over insufficient funding to National Institute of Cardio Vascular Diseases, which he described as the last hope for millions of the poor, needy and helpless heart patients of the country.
In statement here , the president said NICVD was one of the cardiovascular care hospitals in the world providing state-of-the-art medical and emergency care free of cost. And, FPCCI could not leave this great health facility in isolation which faced financial crisis, he added.
The apex trade body , he said, had decided to help NICVD’s voice heard to governmental, non-governmental and international donors.
Maggo said that NICVD served 2.3 million helpless heart patients in 2019, 1.6 million in 2020 and was expected to serve big number in 2021 as well.
He said NICVD was a centre of excellence in true sense as it successfully treated those cardiac patients who had spent millions of rupees in private hospitals of Karachi but still had not been fully and effectively treated.
He commended NICVD for serving the patients in an absolutely non-discriminatory manner; irrespective of colour, ethnicity, religion, social-class and even nationality; even patients from neighboring Afghanistan were being treated for free.
Executive Director NICVD, Prof. Dr. Nadeem Qamar thanked FPCCI President and Vice President for visiting NICVD and listening to their concerns.
He also requested the visiting delegation to help NICVD raise funds though private businesses and international donors with the use of FPCCI’s linkages and marketing expertise.
Dr. Sohail Khan, an Interventional Cardiologist, also attended the meeting and said that NICVD was an example for the developing world for saving hundreds of thousands of lives annually by providing world-class emergency cardiac-care and we all should come together to help raise funds for the poor patients being treated here.