The Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), and NICVD, the country’s leading institute for cardiovascular diseases, partnered with leading pharma company Ferozsons Laboratories Limited to light up Karachi, the city of lights, in red to celebrate World Heart Day.
To raise awareness and promote heart-healthy activities, Karachi’s iconic landmarks were lit red in support of World Heart Day to signify that the citizens of Karachi and the nation stand with the medical fraternity to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases in Pakistan. The landmarks being illumaniated included NICVD, Frere Hall, KMC Tower, and Ayesha Manzil.
The celebrations started on the night of September 29, when NICVD was illuminated in the presence of leading cardiologists of NICVD. The lighting of the institution was meant to honor the endless sacrifices of the medical community and cardiac professionalswhocontinue to work tirelessly, putting themselves in harm’s way through the pandemic to combat cardiovascular diseases.
Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Administrator of Karachi, led a heart-health walk within the NICVD, where a joint press conference with the leadership of the Institute was conducted to create awareness about heart healthy activities that the public can take to prevent heart disease.
To mark the event, Wahab said: “We want to thank our healthcare heroes for their extraordinary care for patients even during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cardiologists and medical professionals from all fields won the hearts of the nation by putting patients first, despite personal dangers posed to them by the virus. This is an act of bravery and heroism, and this campaign is our small way of thanking our heroes and contributing towards their awareness efforts against heart disease, the country’s deadliest silent killer.”
On the occasion, NICVD Executive Director Professor Nadeem Qamar said, “World Heart Day every year reminds us of our individual and collective responsibility toward protecting ourselves, our families, and our nation’s heart health. Each one of us has a role to play, starting from an individual adopting healthy life style. Every role, however small it may seem, is an important contributor to our collective response to this rapidly growing epidemic. NICVD being a premier health care institution is well aware of its responsibilities towards cardiac health care at provincial and national level. NICVD stands for state of art cardiac care for all and its services encompass comprehensive multifaceted approach to prevention and treatment of diseases of heart and blood vessels.”
CEO of Ferozsons Osman Waheed thanked the KMC administrator, DC Central Karachi Taha Saleem, Prof Nadeem Qamar, Prof Khawar Kazmi, and the team at NICVD, for highlighting the importance of preventive care on the occasion of World Heart Day.
