LAHORE: The Jinnah Institute of Cardiology (JIC) in Lahore was built at a cost of Rs16 billion, but it has still not started cardiac surgery.
The hospital is providing angiography, angioplasty, outpatient (OPD) services and other diagnostic tests. Cardiac surgery, however, has not yet begun.
The Punjab Health Department says cardiac surgery will start at JIC soon. It says emergency care and primary angioplasty are being provided as a priority.
According to the department, it is focusing on giving heart patients immediate treatment and on handling emergency cases first. It says steps are being taken to begin cardiac surgery. The department has not given a date.
The delay stands out because of what the hospital already has. When Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique toured the hospital on September 1, he described JIC as a 250-bed, international-standard facility.
He said it has a cath lab, MRI, modular operation theatres, cardiac wards, pathology and radiology labs, an ICU, an emergency ward, an angio suite and a heart transplant centre. He specifically mentioned the latest heart-lung machine and other modern equipment in the operation theatres.
A heart-lung machine is used during open-heart surgery. That the hospital has one but is not yet doing surgery suggests the problem is not equipment. It is more likely staffing and clinical readiness.
Cardiac surgery needs much more than an operation theatre. A working cardiac surgery programme needs cardiac surgeons, cardiac anaesthetists, perfusionists who run the heart-lung machine, intensive care specialists and specially trained nurses for post-operative care. Pakistan’s public health system has long been short of several of these specialists, especially perfusionists.
Health managers often say the hardest part of opening a new tertiary hospital is recruiting and keeping these teams, not buying machines. Until a full surgical team is in place and trained, hospitals usually run diagnostic and catheter-based services first, which is the stage JIC appears to be at now.
This means that those needing bypass surgery or valve replacement must, for now, look to other cardiac centres in the city, where waiting lists for surgery have historically been long.
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in Pakistan. Rising rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking have increased the number of people needing advanced cardiac care.
Primary angioplasty is the emergency procedure that opens a blocked artery during a heart attack. Having it available at JIC is a real gain for Lahore’s heart patients. But a Rs16 billion hospital was also meant to take on complex surgery.
Opening a major public hospital in stages is not unusual. Still, the gap between the hospital’s opening and the start of its main surgical service will be closely watched. Patients and taxpayers will want a clear timeline, especially as the province also promotes plans such as a free kidney and liver transplant programme.
The Health Department’s assurance that surgery will start “soon” will be tested by how quickly JIC can put together a full cardiac surgery team. For now, the hospital is treating heart patients, but not yet operating on them.
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