Committee formed to prepare plasma for treating coronavirus patients

PESHAWAR: The Health Department has constituted a five-member committee to prepare the plasma extracted from the blood of the patients who recovered from coronavirus recently which will be used to treat other patients suffering from the same disease.

Briefing the media on the latest updates on the coronavirus here on Sunday, Advisor to Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations Ajmal Wazir said the committee would comprise of senior doctors, said an official handout.

The doctors will include Shahjahan, Fazal Raziq, Khalid Khan, Hamida Qureshi and Usman Khattak. The adviser said after the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, all our ministers and members of the National and Provincial Assemblies are in the field to deal with the coronavirus.

Ajmal Wazir said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan is also monitoring the situation throughout the province. He said the timely steps taken by the provincial government to protect public from coronavirus that had begun to emerge in the province, had paid off and 109 samples taken for the coronavirus test from Mangah, a Mardan village, proved to be negative which has been confirmed by NIH. The adviser said the situation in Mangah union council is gradually improving and the area will be reopened slowly. “On the one hand, we are fighting against the coronavirus while on the other ensuring food commodities and products in the market and taking action against the hoarders,” he added.

Talking about the relief package, Ajmal Wazir said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s relief package would be distributed according prime minister’s Ihsas programme, which would benefit over 2.1 million families. He said the package would be distributed amongst the needy and deserving families through information management system.

Up to 3,600 distribution points would be established in the province, for which the provincial government will develop a mechanism, after consulting the federal government. Ajmal Wazir said the chief minister has also issued special instructions for the care of children suffering from thalassemia in the current emergency situation so that they do not face any obstruction in the blood supply.