Coronavirus suspect admitted to GIMS, doctors claim lacking testing materials

SUKKUR: A student, resident of Khairpur who returned from China on Saturday, was suspected of having coronavirus, though he was initially declared clean at the airport and was allowed to go back home.

Shahzeb Ali Rahouja, hailing from Rahouja village of Pir-jo-Goth, district Khairpur, had arrived in Karachi from China, was later declared suspect of having symptoms of coronavirus. He was shifted to a taluka hospital, where the doctors and medical staff had refused to provide treatment. Later, he was shifted to the Civil Hospital Khairpur, where the hospital administration had admitted the patient but the doctors refused to treat him as they did not have prescribed treatments or test kits.

Shahzeb was studying petroleum at the Chinese university around 1,000 kilometers away from the Wuhan city of Central China’s Hubei province, for the past five months. He was suspected of having coronavirus during his journey home, especially at the Qatar airport though he was cleared in the screening in China, later he felt symptoms of deadly coronavirus. Meanwhile, Shahzeb and his brother shared a video on social media briefing the recent condition of the patient and provision of health facilities.

Sindh Minister for Health Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho took notice of the video that went viral on social media and directed the District Health Officer (DHO) as well as deputy commissioner Khairpur to take care of Shahzeb, who is being suspected of having coronavirus. She also directed the authorities to shift the patient to Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS). The patient was later shifted to the GIMS in a room along with his parents and a brother Irshad Ali, but they were still waiting for treatment.

Director GIMS Dr Raheem Bakhsh Bhatti said the suspected coronavirus patient was kept in an isolated room and security guards were also deployed there for his safety. He said Sindh Minister for Health sent a letter to the National Institute of Health, Islamabad for provision of diagnostic kits on emergency basis. He emphasised that further investigations would confirm whither the patient was genuinely a victim of coronavirus or not.