According to history pages, this institute started operating in 1970. The
Pakistan Army Cardiac Service started in 1953 in Cardiothoracic Centre Rawalpindi. The first angiography was done in 1969 and the first
open heart surgery was done in 1970. In 1978, the Cardiothoracic Centre Rawalpindi was upgraded as Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology. 3 years after in 1981, the hospital extended their services to all Pakistani Citizens and upgraded to National Institute of Heart Diseases under the President of Pakistan's directions. Before
Malala Yousafzai was airlifted to
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in England for international treatment, she had been cared for by Pakistani and visiting British doctors at the Institute. She had been flown there from the Combined Military Hospital
Peshawar, where she had been taken from the District Hospital in Swat. == Departments and Units ==