Hospitals in 3 districts to get 150 new beds for Covid patients

Health Department to work seven days a week in health emergency

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Department has decided to add another 150 bed capacity to the hospitals in the most affected districts of the province in the face of rapid spread of novel coronavirus infection.

Official sources told The Express Tribune that these beds will be added to hospitals in Peshawar, Swat and Mardan districts.

“The Covid-19 wards are almost full to its capacity in Peshawar and it has been decided to increase the number of beds in the hospitals to accommodate the ever increasing number of patients,” said an official.

He said that there were 240 beds for corona patients at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar out of which 182 are already occupied. At the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) 44 ventilators are also occupied at LRH. By the same token, at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) there are 106 beds in corona wards in which 104 are occupied. Out of a total 25 ventilators 23 are treating patients.

Similarly, there are 154 beds at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) for Covid-19 patients in which 136 are already occupied and in total 30 ventilators 29 are also occupied.

Read: 11.9% Covid positivity sets off alarm bells in K-P

“In addition to it there are 523 high flow oxygen beds and 279 low flow oxygen beds in the K-P,” said the official.

The ratio of Covid-19 positive cases is 28 percent in Peshawar, 12 percent in Mardan, 16 percent in Buner, 11 percent in Bajaur, 11 percent in Charsadda, 26 percent in Swat, 19 percent in Nowshera, 11 percent in Swabi and 12 percent in Malakand. In some Northern districts the ratio of positive cases is five to six percent.

The Health Department also claimed that the testing facilities had also been enhanced to 7000 people per day.

So far around 2301 people have lost their lives in the pandemic in the province.

On the other hand the Health Department has also decided to work on week-ends in order to better handle the emergency situation and it has asked its staff to come to offices on Saturday and Sunday.

All the District Health Officers (DHO) and the staff of district hospitals have been directed to ensure their presence at the office and hospitals on Saturdays and Sundays too.

This order will be followed during the health emergency.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2021.