Covid hospital to be set up in Peshawar

Facility will also conduct testing for virus

PESHAWAR:

The provincial government on Friday announced that it will set up a hospital in Peshawar which will be dedicated for and specialise in treating the novel coronavirus (Covi-19).

The announcement came as the tally for deaths associated with the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) topped 1,000 in the province while the total another number of Covid-19 cases soared past 27,506.

Briefing the media at the Information Cell in the Civil Secretariat on Friday, Adviser to the Chief Minister on Information Ajmal Wazir said that during a meeting on affairs of hospitals in the province, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had decided to set up a dedicated facility in the provincial capital for treating patients infected with the virus, including testing.

Wazir said that for this purpose, the government had decided to convert the Nishtarabad hospital in Peshawar into the specialised Covid-19 facility. The hospital, he said, has 58 beds, including 17 beds in the high dependency units (HDU) and five in the intensive care unit (ICU), with oxygen facility available with each bed.

In the second phase, he said that the number of beds in the facility will be increased to 110.

“A total of 105 specialised staff, including pulmonologists, pathologists, psychologists and medical specialists will be posted in the hospital,” he said, adding that CM Mahmood will inaugurate the modern facility soon. However, a source said that the inauguration is expected to take place as soon as Monday.

On testing capacity at the hospital, he said that a laboratory has been set up there while the government will provide it with 15,000 testing kits.

The adviser on information further said that the provincial government is ramping up the capacity of hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients, noting that some of 5,500 beds have been reserved for infected patients.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2020.