Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s first comprehensive Children’s Heart Surgery Programme is in full swing, providing life-saving treatment to young patients, including those from other provinces, Express News reported.

Under the Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme, 3,162 successful heart surgeries and interventions have been performed so far. Additionally, 7,436 children from across the country have been registered for treatment.

To enhance the programme, foreign paediatric heart surgeons will visit Punjab regularly. A British medical team has already conducted surgeries at Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology.

The initiative is extending free heart surgeries to children from Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In Punjab’s public and private hospitals, the treatment of 316 children from K-P has been arranged; 51 children from Sindh have been registered for surgery; 11 children from Balochistan will undergo free procedures; 158 children from Azad Kashmir are also registered; 30 children from Gilgit-Baltistan will receive surgery.

So far, 2,419 surgeries have been performed in public hospitals and 743 in private hospitals under the initiative. The Punjab government is covering all expenses for surgeries and treatment.

Before the launch of this programme, hundreds of children lost their lives every year due to limited resources and long waiting lists, leaving families helpless.

Maryam emphasised her commitment to children’s health, stating: “I cannot bear to see young children in pain. The government will cover all surgery costs. Children have the first right over the state’s resources, and every child will be treated as our own.”