K-P public hospitals have 342 ventilators

PESHAWAR: A source at the K-P Health Department has told The Express Tribune that the province has of 342 ventilators spread across public hospitals in the province.

Given the coronavirus outbreak, the provincial government has ordered another 144 ventilators, out of which it will receive 44 within a week while the remaining 100 ventilators will be delivered in the coming few weeks.

So far the government has spent Rs180 million to procure critical medical equipment to fight the coronavirus and other diseases, the source added.

The source further informed that the provincial government has so far established several isolation wards across the province with 1,450 beds in different hospitals.

All district administrations have been directed to set up additional quarantine centres should the need arise.

As a backup plan, the provincial government has decided it will declare 20 different hospitals across the province as quarantine centres where only coronavirus patients would be treated. As of now, the source said, the K-P government has set up a quarantine centre in Darazinda area, and at the Gomal Medical Centre in DI Khan and the Shahkas Levies Centre in Khyber district.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2020.