KP starts taking measures to contain monkeypox

PESHAWAR: Amid confirmed cases of monkeypox in the country, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department on Wednesday started taking precautionary measures by declaring two hospitals as designated health facilities for management of suspected monkeypox patients coming from abroad.

“In view of the confirmed monkeypox cases in Pakistan and subsequent advisory issued from the National Institute of Health Islamabad, on the subject, the competent authority (DGHS KP) has been pleased to nominate Police & Services Hospital Peshawar and DHQ Hospital Landikotal, as designated hospitals for management of suspected monkeypox cases upon screening at POES (Point of Entries) at Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar and Torkham Border, Khyber tribal district,” the Health Department stated in a notification.

In the same notification, the director has requested the medical superintendents of the two hospitals to establish a well-equipped, at least five bedded isolation ward for the suspected monkeypox patients and nominate a focal person from their relevant institutes with intimation to the health department.

The government wanted to entertain suspected monkeypox patients coming from overseas through the Bacha Khan International Airport in the Police and Services Hospital, Peshawar while those coming to Pakistan from Afghanistan via Torkham border would be accommodated in DHQ Landikotal Hospital.

According to senior health department officials, no confirmed case of the monkeypox has been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They were, however, concerned about the people coming to Pakistan from Afghanistan via the Torkham border where the screening process is usually not conducted according to the standard operating procedures.

Monkeypox was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on July 23, 2022 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which recommended governments to take certain measures to strengthen and coordinate the global response to the outbreak.

Monkeypox (Mpox) is a viral zoonotic disease caused by a pox virus (MPXV) and is a contagious disease.

It can be transmitted from infected animals to humans or from infected humans to other humans via close contacts and droplets. As of now a total of around 87,000 laboratory confirmed cases and 119 deaths have been reported from 111 countries globally.

The number of cases reported weekly at the global level peaked in August 2022, and since then, the cases have been steadily declining.In Pakistan, since May 2022, a total of 22 samples from suspected cases were referred from different parts of the country and PCR tests were carried out at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad for Monkeypox virus.

First (01) case has been confirmed by NIH from travelers who arrived recently in Pakistan and have been isolated at PIMS hospital along with others who are being investigated. As there is no evidence of localized transmission of Mpox as of now in Pakistan, the risk of international spread of disease from Pakistan remains low.

The WHO does not recommend any restrictions on trade on the current available information regarding Mpox outbreaks. Mpox advisory to the health authorities and guidelines by Border Health Services based on the recent case detection have been issued to enhance screening of inbound passengers at all international airports. The NIH, Provincial Health Departments and Border Health Services at all Airports, district health authorities at Islamabad and provinces have been advised to ensure surveillance through laboratory diagnostics, contact tracing, rapid identification of suspected cases and clusters of infections as well as the source of infection in order to: provide optimal clinical care; isolate cases to prevent further transmission; identify, manage and follow-up contacts to recognize early signs of infection; identify risk groups for infection and for severe disease; protect frontline health workers; and tailor effective control and prevention measures.

The ministry and NCOC at NIH Pakistan are vigilantly monitoring the situation both at the national and global levels while keeping all the relevant stakeholders on board for ensuring preparedness, timely response and containment of mpox cases in Pakistan.