Karachi: With Pakistan recording hundreds of sudden cardiac arrest cases daily and emergency rooms receiving up to 100 such patients each day, the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) has launched a major initiative to train 1,000 citizens as CPR master trainers to save lives in the critical first minutes of collapse.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of training program, initiated in collaboration with a local pharmaceutical firm Pharmevo, NICVD officials and cardiologist warned that the absence of timely resuscitation is costing thousands of preventable deaths, particularly among young people.
NICVD Executive Director Dr. Tahir Saghir said cardiac arrest and related fatalities among young men and women are rising at an alarming pace and stressed that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), if performed within three to five minutes of collapse, can significantly improve survival chances.
“Our aim is to equip ordinary citizens with life-saving skills so that they can intervene immediately and prevent avoidable deaths,” he said.
Dr. Saghir linked the surge in heart disease to unhealthy lifestyles. “People ignore heart health, stay glued to mobile phones, neglect sleep, exercise and diet. We need to return to natural foods and healthy routines. In the past, when people ate desi ghee and simple diets, heart attacks were rare. Now junk food, sweets and inactivity are fuelling an epidemic,” he remarked, urging citizens to replace sweets with fruits and add vegetables, pulses and regular walking into their routines.
Head of NICVD’s Professional Skills Department, Dr. Nobia Mehdi, said their emergency ward alone sees 70 to 100 cardiac arrest patients daily, with four to five often arriving dead on arrival. “The first three to five minutes are decisive. If CPR is initiated immediately, survival is possible. But delays result in irreversible brain damage and poor recovery. Traffic jams and poor roads often delay ambulances, which makes public training even more crucial,” she said.
She added that NICVD’s chest pain units across Karachi have already reduced pre-hospital deaths, but the gap in community response remains. “Equipping schools, public spaces, and institutions with trained responders can transform survival outcomes,” Dr. Mehdi stressed.
The campaign coincides with World Heart Day 2025, observed globally under the theme “Make the Right Choice for Your Heart”. Health experts say Pakistan must not only spread awareness about healthy diets, exercise and risk-factor control, but also empower citizens with emergency response tools like CPR, which is proven to double or triple survival chances after cardiac arrest.
Supporting this vision, local pharmaceutical company Pharmevo has partnered with NICVD to fund and facilitate the CPR training project. Pharmevo’s Director Commercial, Abdul Samad, said their aim is to create a cadre of master trainers who will multiply impact by teaching thousands more.
“We will especially target public spaces, police departments and educational institutions where large numbers of people gather. Our hope is that no family loses a loved one simply because no one knew how to resuscitate,” he said.
Officials said the program will begin in Karachi and expand nationwide, creating a community-based network of CPR-trained citizens who can act before ambulances or doctors arrive. With heart disease already the leading cause of death in Pakistan, they called the project an urgent necessity.
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