Lives of heart patients at risk as diagnostic machines at NICVD malfunction

Five major machines have not been working at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) for the past several months and have severely affected the life-saving care given to patients of heart diseases.

The only CT angiography machine at the institute is also damaged, and patients are being forced to refer to private hospitals in order to avail treatment, suggest reports. 

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According to hospital sources, there are a total of nine labs at the NICVD for different tests, out of which labs 2,4,5,6 and 7 are closed, and the hospital administration is not taking concrete steps to reopen them. 

It is important to note that the labs take up critical cases of Angiography, Angio Plasti, CT Angio and others. The problems with the machines at the NICVD has forced patients toward private hospitals.  

When quizzed about this, the hospital's executive director, Professor Nadeem Qamar, said there were service agreement issues with the medical companies that have now been resolved. He hoped that by a week the machines would be fine.

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He further said that the CT NGO machines at Lab 6 were beyond repair, and the Department of Health had requested that a new machine be purchased for the lab. 

It should be noted that cases of patients admitted to the ward due to machine malfunctions are experiencing abnormal delays while patients are being given long dates which can be a risk to their lives.