Four Covid-19 patients discharged from RIUKT

RDA plans installation of gates at allied hospitals to detect suspected patients

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues to spread in the twin cities, four patients including a woman were discharged from the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant (RIUKT) on Saturday after they tested negative twice after completing their isolation period. However, two more people in Rawalpindi tested positive on Saturday after which they were shifted to isolation facilities.

Moreover, seven new patients of Covid-19 were detected in Islamabad where total count of conformed cases has reached 75, while three people have fully recovered from the disease. At least 174 suspected patients of Covid -19 were interned in various quarantine centres and isolation wards in the capital.

The patients discharged from RIUKT quarantine centre have been identified Engineer Osama, Badar Iqbal, Nawaz, and Atika. RIUKT Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Khalid Mehmood and other staff members walked with the four recovered patients to see them off at the hospital’s gate. RIUKT management confirmed through a video message. One of the recovered patients, Osama, commended the efforts of the medical professionals and said that they were working hard. All the discharged patients have been advised to continue taking precautionary measures.

Many other patients in different quarantine centres are expected to be discharged after their observation period. Some 34 patients in the quarantine facility set up at the Pir Mehar Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University have also been tested negative however they would remain under observation for two more weeks. After this period, they would be tested again for the virus and released if their results come out negative.

Further, seven members of a family in the Ganj Mandi area have been quarantined at homes on showing symptoms of the pandemic virus. Health department officials said that all of them were in a stable condition and teams of doctors were visiting them regularly.

Meanwhile, two more patients in the garrison city were found infected with the virus. Zafar Rasheed and Rehmat Bibi had visited the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) Community Clinic after suffering from fever. On suspicion of contracting the novel virus, their blood samples were sent to NIH and they tested back positive. After this, both patients were shifted to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) on Saturday.

Thermal walk-through gates

The apex civic agency of the garrison city has completed all arrangements to install thermal walkthrough gates at entry points of all three allied hospitals in Rawalpindi, including Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, and Rawalpindi District Headquarters Hospital. Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) would install these gates next week.

These electronic gates would detect the body of temperatures of all those passing through it. Those having temperature beyond the normal scale would be immediately shifted to the filter clinics established in the outpatient departments (OPDs) of the allied hospitals. The doctors would examine the suspected patients and would dispatch their blood samples to the National Institute of Health (NIH) if they displayed other symptoms of the virus too.

In this regard, RDA Chairman Tariq Murtaza said that the walkthrough gates would enable filtering out people having symptoms of the novel virus. He added that this way, only the suspected patients would be referred to the filter clinics.

Moreover, in continuation of precautionary  measures taken to prevent  and control the  spread of coronavirus , three more disinfectant walk through gates  have been installed in the city.

Out of these, two walk through gates  have been installed at G-9 infront of Utility Store by Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) with the cooperation of CDA.

After completing installation and making operational walk through gates have been handed over to utility store management. After walking through these gates disinfectant spray, people will enter the utility store. A walk through disinfectant gate has been installed at Tarlai Panahagah with help of donors.

ICTA had planned to install 20 sanitising  walk through gates spraying disinfectant at different locations of the federal capital, out of which sanitising walk through gates at Sabzi Mandi and Sector G- 9 Markaz have been installed, while work of installation of two sanitising walk through gates at the Pak Secretariat is in progress. Meanwhile, the Chief Commissioner office in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority and CDA has coordinated spraying chemical in Sector I-10. This activity was participated by civil society, traders’ community and other segments.

Lockdown situation

The twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi wore a deserted look on Sunday as the main commercial markets remained closed while the metro bus service (MBS) between the twin cities also remained suspended. The medical, grocery, meat, vegetable, fruit shops in different areas of the twin cities remained opened until the 8pm deadline. After that, the cities looked dark and bereft of people they as decided to stay indoors to avoid punishment by police. The police and security personnel performed their duties diligently and obstructed those who wanted to take a drive on empty roads aimlessly. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2020.