On the directives of Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif, free treatment facilities are being provided to patients in the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).
The Chief Minister has approved a grant of Rs 500 million for indoor and Rs 100 million for entitled patients. Hence, for the last one month, PIC out-patient department (OPD) is providing free cardiac medicines to almost 2,000 patients daily.
PIC Medical Superintendent Dr Jaffar Salim said during the last six months, 101,290 patients had been provided free medical facilities in the OPD, 48,240 in the emergency and 10,781 patients in the indoor. Moreover, 1,089 cardiac surgery procedures were conducted and 1,325,687 Pathology lab tests, 13,164 Echocardiography, 2,948 Exercise Tolerance Tests, 1,025 CT Angio and 8,431 Angiography tests performed.
Salim said PIC was the only institution where consultants were following the Punjab Medical and Health Institutions Act. He said the institution earned Rs 112 million from the fees collected by consultants in 2010 which made a 45 percent share. He further said several development projects had been completed in the PIC with the financial assistance of philanthropists. Free food was being provided to all indoor patients with the help of a private company and a philanthropist and an amount of Rs 5 million was being spent on it per annum, said Salim.
