KARACHI: The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) has achieved a major milestone by becoming the world’s largest center providing free cardiac surgeries and primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs), after delivering entirely cost-free cardiac care to over 1.6 million patients during 2025.
According to the institute’s annual performance statistics released on Tuesday, NICVD Karachi alone treated patients from across Pakistan, offering advanced and high-cost cardiac services without any financial burden.
Official figures show that during the year NICVD Karachi performed 9,205 primary angioplasties, 6,442 early and elective angioplasties, and more than 18,757 angiographies. In pediatric cardiology, the institute carried out 3,149 pediatric catheterizations and interventions, along with 285 Percutaneous Transvenous Mitral Commissurotomy (PTMC) procedures. The hospital also conducted 1,567 adult open heart surgeries and 1,231 pediatric open heart surgeries during the same period.
The statistics further reveal that 41 Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) procedures were successfully performed in 2025, each costing approximately Rs4 million, all provided free of charge with the support of the Government of Sindh. In addition, NICVD Karachi carried out 66 stroke interventions, implanted 964 temporary pacemakers and 1,167 permanent pacemakers, and delivered extensive diagnostic and outpatient services, including 88,484 echocardiography procedures, 445,209 adult and pediatric outpatient visits, and 54,131 hospital admissions.
NICVD Karachi also continued to serve patients from across the country, treating a total of 158,266 patients from other provinces free of cost. These included 35,139 patients from Punjab, 109,340 from Balochistan, 11,599 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,203 from Azad Kashmir, and 985 from Gilgit-Baltistan, all of whom received advanced cardiac treatment without payment.
Commenting on the performance, Executive Director NICVD Professor Tahir Saghir said the institution’s achievements were made possible through the consistent support of the Government of Sindh. He stated that NICVD continues to provide comprehensive cardiac services, including surgeries, angioplasties, electrophysiology procedures, stroke interventions, and advanced diagnostics, entirely free of cost. He further said that a new outpatient department block has been inaugurated to cater to the increasing number of patients and to further improve service delivery, reaffirming NICVD’s commitment to ensuring that no patient is denied quality cardiac care due to financial constraints.
