Governor offers to establish telemedicine centres in Balochistan, KP, GB, AJK

Says 70,000 individuals availed healthcare advice provided at facilities in province

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar announced to also establish corona telemedincine centres in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday.

The governor contacted the respective governors of the aforesaid provinces and the president of AJK through telephone.

He apprised them about setting up of corona telemedicine helpline centres in Punjab and the medical and awareness facilities being provided to the people through these.

Sarwar highlighted that corona telemedicine centres have proved very effective in Punjab and around 70,000 individuals have taken medical advice from these centres so far. The number of people utilising the facility continues to increase over the days.



“Doctors are available for their guidance 24/7, which has reduced public rush substantially in the hospitals,” adding, “Therefore, we have announced setting up of corona telemedicine centres in the Governor Houses of Balochistan, KP and GB along with AJK President House.”

He also offered to impart free training to the staff of telemedicine centres in all the provinces and AJK and said that work on emergency basis has started to establish these healthcare facilities.

While inaugurating the BSL-Lab at Corona Testing Centre in the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) the governor said, “This is a time of difficulty but we have to face it bravely. The government is taking effective and comprehensive steps to protect people from the novel coronavirus however these will not prove effective if people come out of their homes unnecessarily.”

The inaugurated lab has the capacity of conducting 300 to 400 coronavirus tests per day.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2020.