CM Punjab inaugurates cardiac facility in Jhelum

The Chief Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, has inaugurated a cardiac catheterization laboratory (Cath Lab) at the District Headquarters Hospital in Jhelum, saying patients would no longer need to travel to other cities for cardiac treatment.

During her visit, Maryam Nawaz inspected hospital wards, a semi-modular unit and the operation theatre.

She also checked the quality and expiry dates of medicines and injections, watched a live angiography procedure from the control room and met patients recovering from angioplasty.

One patient, Shehzad Naveed, a Dubai-based driver, told the chief minister he had returned to Pakistan for free cardiac treatment after developing a heart condition.

He said he had initially been offered an appointment in Faisalabad after a week’s wait but travelled to Jhelum on his sister’s advice, where he underwent angioplasty without delay.

Maryam Nawaz directed that patients requiring angioplasty at any hospital in Punjab should not have to wait more than 24 hours.

She said the facility, equipped with angiography and angioplasty services, ECG equipment, a modern operation theatre and ventilators, had treated 2,400 patients so far.

Later, the chief minister visited Zahida Bibi at her newly constructed four-marla house in New Abadi Islam Pura, Jhelum, built with a loan under the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar scheme.

She formally inaugurated the house alongside the beneficiary and her family.

Zahida Bibi told the chief minister that her family had worked day and night to complete the house, with laborers working during the day and family members taking over at night.

She said the scheme had enabled her family to have a roof of their own.

The chief minister interacted with the family and children and conveyed greetings from PML-N president Nawaz Sharif.

The chief minister said providing people with their own homes brought her immense satisfaction. She described Apni Chhat Apna Ghar as Punjab’s largest low-cost housing project and said its features and impact were being recognized internationally.