ATH lacks beds for Covid-19 patients

MD says pandemic will peak if people do not follow SOPs

ABBOTABAD:

Due to the increasing number of COVID-19 patient, the beds at The Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) are insufficient to deal with any emergency, said the hospital’s Medical Director Dr Alam Zaib Swati.

“If people do not follow the Coronavirus SOPs, the outbreak will reach its peak which will be difficult to control again,” he said while chairing an emergency meeting because of the increasing cases of coronavirus at ATH.

During the fourth wave of coronavirus, the number of cases has increased drastically at ATH which is alarming, the public should be more careful to avoid the lethal delta virus as the symptoms of this wave are different from all the previous three, said Dr Swati.

In the meeting, the rapidly growing cases of Coronavirus came under discussion, while Chairman Coronavirus Committee Dr Iram Sarwar informed the meeting that at present preparations at ATH are adequate, if the cases continue to grow then we need more beds to tackle the situation in the hospital.

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Hospital Director Dr Nadeem Akhtar, Nursing Director Shamsul Huda and heads of all departments attended the meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr Akhtar said that the number of cases of Coronavirus in Hazara have reached its highest level in the last three weeks, which is a reminder of the deteriorating situation because of the global epidemic. The fourth wave has become more lethal because of the increased activities during Eidul Azha, the current increase is attributed to the delta type that appeared in India a few months ago and started its devastation.

“To cope with the growing challenge of COVID-19 we have closed some wards at ATH and allocated more beds for Coronavirus, now we are ready to tackle any emergency,” he said, adding that this type of Coronavirus has spread to over 90 countries including Pakistan. “More patients with Coronavirus were hospitalised during the fourth wave than in any of the previous waves,” he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2021.