The Punjab government has launched the Chief Minister Children Heart Surgery Programme to provide free child heart surgery. This initiative, dubbed “Maryam Ki Masihaai,” aims to provide critical medical care to over 5,000 children annually.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz officially launched the programme and distributed ‘Child Surgery Cards’ to eligible families. Under this programme, if public hospitals lack the necessary space, free child heart surgery will be facilitated at private hospitals.
In the first phase, heart surgery services for children will be available at six public hospitals and select private facilities, including the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) and the Children’s Hospital in Lahore, as well as hospitals in Multan, Faisalabad, and Rawalpindi. The second phase will see the programme expand to include hospitals in Wazirabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, and Sargodha. An online dashboard will be established to monitor the progress of the Children’s Heart Surgery Programme.
In the second phase, the programme will extend to include hospitals in Wazirabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, and Sargodha. Additionally, an online dashboard will be created to track the progress of the Children’s Heart Surgery Programme.
The Chief Minister meet with children and expressed her heartfelt joy at the programme’s launch, emphasizing her role as a caregiver rather than just a political leader. She highlighted the deep sorrow experienced by mothers who lose their children, stating that the new free child heart surgery facilities are a sincere effort to alleviate their suffering and restore hope to families.
This initiative will also cater to children from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces. It was revealed during the briefing that previously, a lack of timely heart surgery facilities had tragically resulted in the deaths of around 5,000 children each year.
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