WHO team sees facilities for COVID-19 patients in PKLI

LAHORE: The World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Pakistan Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala and his team visited Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center (PKLI&RC) on Thursday.

The guests were given a presentation by Dr Hafiz Ijaz Ahmad – dean PKLI&RC. The guests were briefed about the hospital’s vision, mission, state-of-the-art medical facilities, progressive approach and plans for future development.

The WHO team visited the isolation rooms/wards and looked into the medical arrangements the available there for the Covid-19 patients.

Dr Mahipala was impressed and he appreciated the untiring efforts of the hospital staff for responding to the public health emergency as per international standards. He expressed the desire to collaborate with PKLI in order to maximise the efforts for ensuring the best practices in the areas of infection prevention and control.

The team also visited the hospital waste management facility and observed the working of a microwave shredder machine. In the first week of March, the Punjab government announced that PKLI would function as a corona care facility.

The routine working of the hospital was halted and isolation arrangement for Covid-19 was planned. As the first step, the hepatitis building was converted into a 26-bed isolation ward. In the next phase, the main hospital building will host patients in 75 rooms, including ICU facilities. Since March 19, 2020, 30 corona patients had been admitted while six were discharged after recovery and negative test reports.

Prof Dr Hafiz Ijaz Ahmad expressed gratitude to the WHO representatives on behalf of PKLI’s staff upon visiting the hospital and shared with them the areas of future collaboration between PKLI and WHO.