K-P records lowest Covid-19 cases

The novel coronavirus appears to have substantially subsiding in the province with the three of the largest hospitals in the provincial capital on Wednesday reporting that they had a combined total of 62 patients under treatment there.

A daily situation report released by the provincial government on Wednesday said that out of all novel coronavirus (Covid-19) patients under treatment in these hospitals, only 12 are currently on a ventilator. Moreover, most government hospitals in the province have not reported fresh Covid-19 patients this week, it added.

In this regard, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has decided that all those hospitals which were dedicated to the treatment of Covid-19 patients will continue to provide treatment to such patients until further orders.

The three major hospitals in Peshawar including Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) had allocated a whopping 503 beds for Covid-19 patients.

The LRH had dedicated a ward with 250 beds for Covid-19 patients, but just 13 of these were occupied this week, the hospital administration said.

Moreover, only six patients are currently on a ventilator at the LRH, they added.

Out of the 93 beds designated at the KTH, only 16 beds are occupied. As many as 33 patients are under treatment at HMC and two are on ventilators where a ward with 160 beds has been designated for the pathogen patients.The K-P Health Department officials, who requested not to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media, said that the daily situation report of Covid-19 cases shows that the toll of confirmed patients has dipped below the 100 mark while just five associated deaths from the pathogen were reported.

They added that despite a fall in Covid-19 cases, the government has yet to decide on reopening the outpatient departments of hospitals.

The officials further informed that before Eidul Azha, as many as 1,600 Covid-19 tests were carried out in the cattle markets of Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Swat and Charsadda. Out of these tests, only 67 tested positive, he added.

The provincial government has also decided to dedicate the Nishtarabad Hospital for Covid-19 patients while the virus-related services would also be continued at the Peshawar Institute of Cardiology and Charsadda District Headquarters Hospital till further orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2020.