LAHORE  -  Heart surgery of as many as 530 children has been performed in different hospitals of Punjab under the Chief Minister Children’s Heart Surgery Program, according to a handout.  The program continues successfully as significant reduction in pediatric heart surgery waiting list, pending for years, has been witnessed. Surgery and interventional cardiology procedure under the Program has been successfully completed, and the patients are on track to recovery. The programme is being monitored through a dedicated dashboard. According to a handout, the concerned authorities briefed the chief minister that 530 patients were being treated in six government and eight private hospitals on the panel. They also told the CM that registration and entry of details in the central database was ensured for timely surgery of patients coming for treatment. “About 4500 sick children have been referred for treatment in Punjab.” Children’s cardiac surgery is being performed in Children’s Hospital and Cardiology Institutes of Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpind, besides four private hospitals in Lahore, three in Multan and one in Islamabad. Madam Chief Minister said that the health of every child was important, and the government would try hard to save their lives. “In the Children’s Heart Surgery Program, not only Punjab, but also children from other provinces including KP will be treated.It was extremely painful for young children suffering from heart diseases to go through the agony of waiting for a year for surgery,” she further stated. The chief minister said the lack of special heart surgeons and trained allied staff will be fixed to increase the capacity of children’s hospitals. She added,”We are trying to ensure treatment of every child suffering from cardiovascular diseases.”