93% Covid patients unvaccinated in K-P

Most of the Covid-19 patients admitted to the three largest hospitals in Peshawar including Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) are those who have not been vaccinated at all.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the data shows that around 93 per cent of the patients admitted to the LRH in the past three months had not been vaccinated.

“Around 93 per cent of these patients had not received even a single dose while only seven per cent of them had been vaccinated. These seven per cent were those who were not in a critical condition and they were discharged after recovery,” said an official of the Health Department, adding that all the patients whose lives were in danger and who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were 100 per cent those who had not been vaccinated.

This is the situation in Khyber-Teaching Hospital (KTH) which is the second largest hospital of its kind in the province. “There are 104 Covid-19 patients at the hospital but only six of them have been vaccinated properly,” he said, adding that only nine of them were those who had received a single dose.

“None of the vaccinated patients are in life threatening situation or at ICU,” said the official, adding that 89 per cent of the patients had not been vaccinated at all and 27 of them were in critical condition.

In the past 20 days the situation is the same at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) where only eight per cent Covid-19 patients had been vaccinated. “In the high dependency unit around 1,307 patients were brought out of whom 917 were unvaccinated. At hospital ICU 584 patients were treated in which 439 were non-vaccinated which endangered their lives and they ended up at ICU,” he said.

“There are 93 patients at high dependency unit in which only 10 are vaccinated. While eight others have received only their first dose,” said a spokesperson for HMC.

“There are 24 patients in ICU and isolation in which only one is vaccinated,” he added.

Same is the situation in Covid Care Unit in Nishtarabad which is said to be full to capacity. Indeed there are more patients than the beds available at the facility. And only one of the patients brought to the facility is vaccinated.

District Health Officer (DHO) Peshawar Dr Azmat said that unfortunately most of the people are not taking the vaccination process seriously and that is why they are ending up in ICUs on ventilator. “They are not only endangering their own lives but also the lives of their loved ones and family members around them,” he said.

It is worth noting here that there are some people who are going for bogus Covid-19 certificates after the government declared Covid vaccination a must and banned people without vaccination certificate at the government offices. This attitude had made the fight against the Covid-19 very difficult if not impossible for the government and health experts.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2021.