LAHORE: Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique on Tuesday visited the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology and conducted a detailed review of the hospital’s administrative affairs, presiding over a meeting at the facility.
Secretary Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Azmat Mahmood attended the meeting, according to an official statement. Also present were Chairman of the Chief Minister’s Advisory Committee for Cardiology Dr Farqad Alamgir, CEO IDAP Captain (retd) Shah Meer Iqbal, COO Maira Ali, Dean Professor Dr Hasnat Khan, MS JIC Colonel (retd) Dr Sabrina Jamil and other officers.
The Minister visited the emergency, OPD and other departments before reviewing administrative affairs in detail. He issued directions for improvement in the hospital’s administration.
Khawaja Salman Rafique said the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology is the first international-style hospital of its kind, built at a cost of Rs16 billion with 250 beds.
He listed the facility’s clinical infrastructure, which includes a cath lab, MRI, modular operation theatres and cardiac wards, a pathology lab, radiology, ICU and emergency ward, a functional heart transplant centre, an angio suite, diagnostic rooms and OPD services. He described the presence of the latest heart-lung machine, Tesla MRI and other modern medical machinery in the modular operation theatre as a source of joy.
The inclusion of a functional heart transplant centre is the most significant item on that list. Cardiac transplantation requires not only surgical capability but sustained immunosuppression management, tissue matching and long-term follow-up — a combination that few public-sector facilities in Pakistan have been able to maintain.
The Health Minister said he was pleased to see the standard of patient treatment at the institute, and that according to the vision of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, international-level medical facilities would be provided to patients coming to the hospital.
He said doctors and nurses would serve patients as patriotic Pakistanis, and that doctors and staff at the hospital would perform every duty considering it a trust from Allah Almighty.
Cardiovascular disease is among the leading causes of death in Pakistan, and the burden has grown alongside rising rates of diabetes, hypertension and tobacco use. Access to tertiary cardiac care has historically been concentrated in a small number of institutions, producing long waiting periods for procedures such as angioplasty and bypass surgery.
A 250-bed dedicated cardiac facility adds meaningful capacity in Lahore, though the operational test for any new tertiary hospital lies in staffing rather than equipment — specifically, in recruiting and retaining perfusionists, cardiac anaesthetists, intensivists and specialist nursing staff, categories in which Pakistan’s public health system faces chronic shortages.
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