Corona case at PIMS fighting for life

ISLAMABAD: Hooked to ventilatory support at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), a critically ill woman who traveled to Islamabad two days ago is now confirmed to have acquired Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), hospital sources shared on Saturday.

The woman, who is under treatment in the isolation ward of PIMS, initially consulted a private hospital, wherefrom she was referred to PIMS. She had all COVID-19 symptoms including fever, dry cough, and respiratory issues.

The staff and doctors of that hospital, as well as 13 close contacts of the lady are stated to be under surveillance; their blood samples have been sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the results are expected today (Sunday). Conflicting information was shared with the media regarding whether the woman had traveled to Islamabad from UK or the United States. However, the fact that she escaped being detected at the Islamabad International Airport despite the so-called strengthened surveillance system that the government claims to have enforced, is fueling panic among Islamabad’s residents, much against the government’s persistent advice to the contrary. Fool-proof screening is definitely not in place, people fear. The state of preparedness at PIMS, which has been designated for treatment of COVID-19, is also disputed. Doctors, patients, and staff are all at risk of being infected; right from the start of the outbreak, doctors have been apprehensive of their own safety. Under such circumstances, it is pointless to expect uncompromised treatment and care of confirmed cases. As has always been the case at PIMS, senior doctors are simply not available to attend to patients. Residents also believe it was a huge folly on part of the government to shift COVID-19 cases to PIMS, which is ill-equipped to handle even its regular flow of patients in over-crowded and mismanaged OPDs.