RIUKT made Covid-19 hospital

The Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant (RIUKT) has again been designated as a dedicated hospital for the patients of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as seven people died of the pandemic in Rawalpindi on Satyrday.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Saturday inaugurated the 100-bed Coronavirus Management Centre at RIUKT. Talking to newsmen at the institute she said that the centre was set up in anticipation of an increase in the number of Covid-19 patients.

She added that the number of beds in RIUKT would be increased to 400. The centre will facilitate patients by providing treatment in a safe and secure environment.

She said the second wave of Covid-19 has come and in the last 24 hours seven deaths and 48 cases have been reported in Rawalpindi. Lahore has the highest number of novel coronavirus cases, followed by Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad, Yasmin said.

She hinted at the imposition of a complete lockdown again if the infection rate in Punjab continued to advance.

The minister claimed that the vaccine for novel coronavirus prepared with joint efforts of China and Pakistan would start producing results in two months and added that Pakistan would get an ample quantity of it.

Dr Yasmin said that the RIUKT doctors and staff triumphed against the pandemic during the first wave while announcing that 11 doctors who have succumbed to the disease during the second wave would soon get a compensation package.

The minister said that in all 35 staff members have tested positive and have returned to work after recovering from the infection .She urged people to wear facemasks and adopt precautionary measures amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the province and asked them to stay at home and only visit outside on urgent basis, adding that wearing a mask alone can prevent 70% of infections.

Regarding the cure for the pandemic, Dr Yasmin said that two vaccines are coming up, cold trial of one is being discussed, while the clinical trials for the Chinese vaccine are under way in Pakistan. If the trials become successful, Pakistan will be the first country to use this vaccine, she said.

Talking on the Covid-19 situation in Punjab, she said that the government is fully cognizant of the threat of the second wave of novel coronavirus and preparations have been made in this regard, at least 2,400 ventilators are available all over Punjab to provide emergency treatment to effected, she added.

The minister said that Nawaz Sharif's health seemed alright as making speech every day, adding that he should return to the country, appear before the court and answer its questions. Yasmin said no report regarding the issue of platelets received; it means that it had been resolved.

RIUKT remains an unfinished project. RIUKT Medical Superintendent Dr Khalid Mehmood Randhawa said that the process of kidney transplant was unlikely to start in the near future the institute.

The building had been designated as a coronavirus treatment hospital soon after the outbreak of the pandemic earlier this year.

At the height of the pandemic in May-June, there were 300 patients under treatment at the facility, whereas by first week of August there were only three left in the quarantine ward who had been transferred from Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2020.