QUETTA: Health officials in Balochistan have raised the alarm over a steady and concerning rise in cardiac diseases across the province, with the year 2025 showing a significant acceleration in cases compared to the previous two years. This growing epidemic is placing immense strain on the region’s specialized healthcare infrastructure.
The Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Institute of Cardiology in Quetta, a key cardiac care center, has emerged as a critical frontline in this battle. Data from the institute reveals that in just the last 11 months, its surgeons have performed life-saving operations on more than 400 heart patients. Since January 2025 alone, the facility has provided treatment to approximately 80,000 patients, a staggering figure that underscores the scale of the crisis. This number does not even account for the many patients referred to other government and private hospitals within and outside Balochistan.
A particularly worrying trend highlighted by hospital administrators is the significant number of children now counted among those receiving treatment for heart conditions. This shift indicates that cardiac ailments are no longer confined to older demographics but are increasingly affecting the younger population.
Health experts point to a combination of preventable factors driving this surge. They cite widespread ignorance of basic hygiene principles, increasingly unbalanced and sedentary lifestyles, and a critical lack of preventive healthcare measures as the primary culprits. The situation calls for urgent public health interventions focused on awareness, lifestyle modification, and strengthening primary care to stem the tide of cardiovascular diseases before it overwhelms the provincial health system’s capacity.
