Dr Mirza trashes reports of coronavirus patients in Pakistan

SAPM on health says strict vigilance being maintained at airports

ISLAMABAD: No patient is suffering from the novel coronavirus in Pakistan as yet. This was declared by the Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Wednesday.

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination, Dr Mirza detailed the efforts made by the government to protect people from spreading the novel coronavirus.

“There is strict vigilance at airports, passengers are screened and suspected patients are moved to isolation wards [set up] in public hospitals,” Dr Mirza told the meeting chaired by Senator Ghaus Muhammad Niazi.

In early days, Dr Mirza conceded that the government had suspended all flights to and from China, but now, flights from China have resumed at the Islamabad and Karachi airports where preventive measures have been adopted.

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The government has taken all possible measures to protect people from coronavirus and its spread in the country, the special assistant said.

Regarding Pakistanis stranded in China amid a curfew due to virus outbreak, he said that the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing is in touch with Pakistani students there, adding that four Pakistani students, who were suffering from novel coronavirus, are now in a stable condition.

Further, he said that the health ministry has directed all major hospitals in the country to make arrangements to receive possible cases of the virus and provide them with the necessary care.

Dr Mirza assured the committee that he was personally monitoring the situation and holding meeting with heads of hospitals, health institutions and all other relevant departments to review the situation every 48 hours.

Moreover, he said that the ministry has established contact with all provincial chief ministers, provincial health departments and relevant ministries, including interior, Aviation Division and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to ensure there was seamless coordination with synchronised, synergized, and effective actions.

In this regard, he said that the NIH has issued an advisory and alert on Novel Coronavirus to all provincial health departments and especially to officials deputed at points of entries (PoEs) at all airports and ground crossings in the country.

Moreover, he said the NIH has activated it's Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to monitor the international dynamics of disease and coordination with Central Health Establishment (CHE), World Health Organisation (WHO) and provincial health departments for national prevention and control.

Senator Zeeshan Khanzada called for providing every possible assistance to Pakistani students in China, while Senator Bahramand Tangi said there were reports that the embassy was not facilitating students.

Senator Usman Kakar said that parents of stranded students are worried and wanted their children to be brought back home safely.

The meeting also discussed Homeopathy Practitioners Amendment Bill 2019. Senator Dr Mehr Taj Roghani explained the aim and objectives of the bill, which was unanimously adopted by the panel.

France lauds Pak efforts

France is also handling issues relating to the evacuation of its citizens from China very carefully, said French Ambassador Marc Baréty on Wednesday.

“Around 15,000 people die in France every year due to the winter flu,” he said while talking to the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfikar Bukhari in his chamber on Wednesday.

The French ambassador lauded the Pakistani government's decision of setting up a quarantine centre at Islamabad International Airport (IIA).

Bukhari said the quarantine centre at IIA can effectively handle and screen 300 people at a time.

PIMS has only 86 ventilators

The top public hospital of the federal capital has only 86 functional ventilators, besides suffering from a perennial shortage of beds. This was disclosed Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr Nausheen Hamid told the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) will get additional beds for accommodating patients in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) and other wards, she said in reply to a query during the question hour.

As many as 40 beds will be added to the ICU and another 154 in other wards of Pims, Hamid said, adding that the ICU in the Children Hospital’s has 21 beds while the cardiac care ICU has 11 beds, all of which are equipped with ventilators.

However, these facilities are insufficient to meet the requirement of hundreds of patients streaming into Pims from the twin cities, K-P and AJK.

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She said that in case of non-availability of a bed in the ICU ward, patients were referred to their sister public organisations such as the Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital and the Army Medical Hospital in Islamabad.

The government was trying to improve the public health services in the country, the parliamentary secretary said, asserting that strengthening primary healthcare was a priority of the government.

The secretary said that expansion of Mother and Child Care Hospital and the neonatology department of Pims was under process with the assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

She said that to overcome the shortage, about 184 doctors had been appointed while the process to appoint 101 more was in progress.