KARACHI, Nov 9: A state-of-the-art angiography machine has been installed in the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD), making it the first healthcare facility in the country to have acquired this technology, said Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Administrator Mohammad Hussain Syed on Friday.

While talking to the media after a visit to KIHD, Mr Syed said that the angiography machine, which can detect blockages in coronary vessels within five minutes and was installed in the institute a few days ago, cost more than Rs125 million. He directed that a nominal fee be charged from patients while providing treatment for deserving cases.

Explaining how the machine works, KIHD chief Dr Mohammad Ishaq said that usually in angiography a mixture of medicine and dye is inserted into the bloodstream through the leg. However, this new machine examines the heart without using any medicine to find out where the blockage is. An angiography usually takes at least a day, but with new machine time is reduced drastically, he added.

Mr Syed said that the KMC had spent over Rs200 million on the hospital but was still trying to increase its budget in the wake of constantly-increasing expenditure, while urging philanthropists to donate generously to the hospital.