COVID-19: No patient so far reported in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi:The public sector healthcare facilities in the district including Corona Management Centre established at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology has so far tested not a single patient of disease caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) positive while no confirmed case of the disease has been reported in the federal capital in last 24 hours.

At Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad, as many as four confirmed patients of COVID-19 have been undergoing treatment though in last 24 hours, the hospital did not test any patient positive for the disease. The number of confirmed patients of the disease is on the rise in Pakistan and has crossed the figure of 100 till filing of this report.

The district health department has not been notified of any confirmed patient of COVID-19 from Rawalpindi and so far the teams of health department have found no confirmed patient from the district, said Executive District Officer (Health) Dr. Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.

It is important that in Rawalpindi district, Benazir Bhutto Hospital because of having high dependency unit and CMC at RIU have been designated as the specialized healthcare facilities by the Punjab government to deal with suspects and patients of COVID-19.

To date, the BBH has not received any confirmed patient of COVID-19 and also there has not been any suspect of the disease undergoing treatment at the hospital, said Medical Superintendent at BBH Dr. Rafiq Ahmed while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday. Similar is the status of CMC at RIU.

Many senior experts serving at public sector healthcare facilities, however have suggested that to prevent and avoid a possible outbreak of COVID-19, the government should shut down outpatient departments in the hospitals instead the hospitals should operate emergency departments only and these should be strengthened according to the existing situation.

The patients visiting OPDs of the hospitals can not avoid interaction with other patients due to heavy influx and these are the people who are more vulnerable to contract the disease, said a senior official serving at the allied hospital. He added most of the patients visiting OPDs have weak immune system and COVID-19 may become more deadly for them.

Apart from closure of OPDs, the government should take serious measures to limit activities of attendants of patients undergoing treatment at the hospitals as taking steps well in time may help avoiding losses of lives, said a senior official serving at PIMS.