K-P cabinet member tests positive for Covid-19

Senior Hayatabad Medical Complex doctors passes away after battle with coronavirus

PESHAWAR: A senior doctor of the Hayatabad Medical Complex passed away on Saturday after catching the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) last week in the provincial capital.

The Hayatabad Medical Complex Director Shehzad Faisal said in a statement that Dr Muhammad Javed was an ENT specialist. He was on ventilator for the last one week. He is the first doctor in the province to die of the virus.

Faisal said Dr Javed had been working inside the ward for Covid-19 patients and was leading the hospital’s efforts against the contagion. Several other doctors in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) also tested positive for the virus, he added.

K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in a statement expressed sorrow over the demise of the senior doctor and offered condolence to the bereaved family.

CM Mahmood said Dr Javed was a hero whose services will always be remembered.

K-P CM’s aide catches virus

Special Assistant to K-P Chief Minister on Local Government and Rural Development Kamran Bangash has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Bangash is the second provincial assembly member, who has been infected with the coronavirus. Last month, K-P Assembly member and the ruling party leader Abdul Salam Afridi had tested positive for the coronavirus. He remained in isolation for over two weeks and fully recovered.

K-P CM Focal Person Furqan confirmed that Bangash tested positive for the virus and a medical team also took swab samples of his 11 family members.

The focal person said the special assistant’s test was conducted at the Khyber Medical University and after the results came out positive, he was put in isolation.

Furqan said the provincial special assistant was on the frontline monitoring the anti-Covid-19 efforts across the province.

Meanwhile, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) MNA Munir Khan Orakzai also tested positive for the virus on Saturday.

Akhtar Munir, son of  Munir Orakzai, said that his father had contracted the virus after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus. He said his father was doing well now.

Two LRH doctors test positive

A Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson on Saturday said that at least two doctors at the hospital tested positive for Covid-19.

The spokesperson said that the two doctors were immediately shifted to a quarantine facility.

Until now, at least 30 healthcare workers have tested positive for the contagion in the province.

The daily coronavirus situation report read that at least 167 new confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported during the last 24 hours after which the toll of the Covid-19 patients climbed to 1,708 in the province.

A total of 472 coronavirus patients have fully recovered in the province, the report added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2020.