A Milestone Achieved: Pakistan Performs First Successful Mechanical Heart Transplant

Pakistan’s health sector has met severe criticism due to the insufficiency of resources and low-quality services. The situation presents a distressing image. The recent Economic Survey 2017-18 states that there is only one doctor to see 957 patients, one dentist for 9730 people and only one bed to accommodate 1580 patients.

With lack of government’s spending on the imperative sector, the declining situation also reflects the lack of planning and implementation as, despite efforts, there are no significant results shown.

Also See: Pakistan’s Healthcare Sector: There Is Only 1 Bed To Accommodate 1580 Patients

But there still are some significant contributions being made to the field which gives us a ray of hope. One recent achievement in the medical department was made this Monday when a team of doctors at NICVD (National Institute of Cardio Vascular Diseases) performed Pakistan’s first successful mechanical heart transplant. With the use of advanced and qualitative technology, the transplant is a milestone in the country’s medical history.

The surgery was performed on 62 years old cardiac patient Nafeesa Begum, making her the first patient in Pakistan to undergo this surgery and receive a successful mechanical heart transplant.

Dr Hameedullah Malik, administrator of National Institute of Cardio Vascular Diseases says that before surgery, Nafeesa’s only 15% heart was working but her internal organs were working fine.

Dr Pervez Chaudhry performed the surgery. Dr Pervez and his team comprising of 8 experts joined the NICVD team after a consistent request by the Head of the institute Dr Nadeem Qamar.

Qamar is the first person to introduce heart transplant technology in Pakistan.
”We had been working on structuring this department for about six months now”  – said Dr Hameedullah Malik talking to a local news channel.

He explained that while in regular heart transplant, the heart is replaced but in mechanical transplant, the organ is not replaced but the pumping mechanism is improved using technology.

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