‘Punjab govt trying to scale up testing capabilities’

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has said the government was trying to scale up the testing capabilities and all institutions must play their role.

She expressed these views after the inauguration of a bio-safety level-3 laboratory at the Institute of Public Health (IPH) on Wednesday. World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Chief Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool, Dean IPH Dr Zarfishan Tahir, Prof Suhail Chughtai and Members Board of Management were present on the occasion.

The minister took a round of the laboratory and Dean IPH Dr Zarfishan Tahir briefed the minister about the facilities. The health minister said, "I appreciate the IPH team especially Dr Zafishan Tahir for putting up great efforts and making the lab functional."

“The IPH is in the frontline of this battle and we are increasing testing capacity in Punjab as per guidelines of the WHO. In the current month, many BSL-3 laboratories have been made functional in districts,” she added.

"In Punjab, the highest number of Covid-19 patients is in Lahore. Our quarantine centres can house 28,000 patients,” the minister said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2020.