All set to vaccinate K-P health workers

Arrangements have been made in the three main hospitals of the district to vaccinate health workers starting from Wednesday.

Special counters have been established for the purpose. A separate counter has been established at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Out Patients Department (OPD) while same facilities are being made available at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). Teams have been especially trained for administrating and handling Covid vaccines at each hospital.

Sources in the Health Department told The Express Tribune that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan is going to inaugurate the vaccination drive on Wednesday after which all the frontline health workers, including doctors, paramedics, nurses and other hospital staff will be vaccinated in the first phase.

Read more: Covid vaccination starts in K-P on Wednesday

All the hospitals will be provided with the vaccines within one week after the inauguration. Special measures have been taken and facilities made available for the proper storage of the vaccine in the hospitals. A focal person has been notified who will supervise the entire process of inoculation.

It has been decided to vaccinate staff at Intensive Care Units (ICUs), isolation wards and high dependence wards in the hospitals due to their nature of job. Around 80,000 health workers have been identified including doctors, nurses, paramedics, technicians as well as class four employees, ambulance drivers, and rescue services staff.

Sources told The Express Tribune that around 290 points have been established in health centers across all the 35 districts in the province.

In each district addition deputy commissioners, district health officers, and deputy superintendent police (DSPs) have been assigned with different tasks in this regard during the vaccination drive.

Around 2,584 trained staff has been deployed at these vaccination points in the districts who are also trained in handling as well as storage of the vaccine.

It is worth mentioning here that the first shipment of vaccine reached Pakistan Monday which will be dispatched to locations in all the provinces. Pakistan has approved three vaccines for use in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2021.