Isolation facility at Expo Centre to begin operation soon

Sindh govt to hire more doctors, nurses, paramedics to run the facility

KARACHI: The 10,000-bed facility established at the Expo Centre in Karachi, for COVID-19 patients, is set to start operations and patients will be housed at the isolation centre Friday onwards.

In order to run the facility and manage the increasing burden amid the spike in COVID-19 cases, the Sindh government issued orders on Tuesday to appoint 900 doctors, paramedics, and nursing staff, who will perform duties in three shifts. The medical staff will also be provided accommodation at the Expo Centre.

These healthcare officials will also be kept in the quarantine at the facility for 15 days, as a precautionary measure, and will be examined daily. The living space of the staff will also be disinfected regularly as well.

The health facility, established by Pakistan Army Medical Corps, will have as many as 50 ventilators.

However, as the Sindh govt invites applications for appointing medical staff, several candidates complain that they are not able to apply for the positions as they await the renewal of their licences issued by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) for over a year.

The issuance has been in limbo since the dissolution of PMDC.

They have appealed to the government to waive off the requirement to hold a valid PMDC license for the newly advertised posts of medical officers and doctors, maintaining that Pakistani doctors working abroad are also facing challenges due to the PMDC not working.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) have already demanded of the federal government to make PMDC functional immediately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING FROM PPI 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2020.