Sindh offers NICVD support to upgrade GB cardiac hospital

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) to provide technical and institutional support for upgrading a cardiac hospital in Gilgit-Baltistan, and proposed a memorandum of understanding between the GB government and the institute to formalise the cooperation.

The direction and the MoU proposal came at a meeting between Mr Shah and Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Amjad Hussain Azar at CM House in Karachi on Tuesday, Dawn reported. The GB chief executive had asked the Sindh government for assistance in improving facilities at the hospital.

Dawn's report did not identify the hospital or say where in Gilgit-Baltistan it is located. It also did not give the cost, scope or timeline of the proposed upgrade, or say what the MoU would commit each side to, or when it might be signed.

NICVD, headquartered in Karachi, is one of the country's main cardiac care institutions and operates under the Sindh government.

The request from Gilgit-Baltistan's chief minister points to the region's reliance on specialist institutions outside the territory for complex cardiac procedures. Hospitals in Gilgit-Baltistan offer limited specialist cardiac care, and patients needing advanced treatment are usually referred to larger cities.

Under the plan described by Dawn, Sindh would not take over the GB hospital but would extend technical and institutional help, with the MoU setting out the terms. What that assistance would consist of, whether equipment, staff training, visiting specialists or administrative support, was not specified.

Neither the cost of the upgrade nor the source of funding was disclosed. It was also not clear whether the proposal had been placed before the Gilgit-Baltistan cabinet or whether a draft MoU had been prepared.

No timeline was attached to the proposal, and no date was given for a follow-up meeting between the two governments or between GB officials and NICVD.

For now, the public account of the understanding rests on the report of Tuesday's meeting carried by Dawn, which said the Sindh chief minister had issued the direction to NICVD and put forward the MoU proposal.