ATH nearly doubles Covid-19 capacity

Official denies hospital dedicated as coronavirus facility

ABBOTTABAD: The beds dedicated for novel coronavirus (Covid-19) patients at the Ayub Teaching Hospital in Abbottabad have nearly doubled as the number of confirmed cases there rose to 912.

This was disclosed by the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Medical Director Dr Ahsan Aurangzeb on Monday.

In a statement, he said that initially, they had dedicated space for 70 patients in its isolation ward and intensive care unit (ICU) for Covid-19 patients.

This, he said, has since been increased to 128 patients with all basic requirements such as a sufficient number of doctors, paramedics and equipment.

Further arrangements are being made to accommodate additional Covid-19 patients, Dr Aurangzeb said.

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He added that the ATH is the largest ever public sector hospital in the Hazara division with more than 1,600 beds and offers medical, surgical, orthopaedic, pulmonology, ENT, CCU, ICU, dermatological, neuro, gynaecology, paediatrics and other facilities.

Dr Aurangzeb further said that despite the growing number of cases, they are still operating at full capacity and categorically denied rumours that the facility has stopped offering its regular services and that it has been converted into a Covid-19 hospital.

The laboratory at ATH, the medical director said, has started testing samples obtained from all seven districts of the division to test for Covid-19.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2020.