Minister terms health workers real heroes

PESHAWAR: Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra on Friday praised health workers for performing duties on the frontline to deal with the of coronavirus outbreak and said they were real heroes of the society.

He expressed these views while talking to the lab staff on a brief visit to the Khyber Medical University (KMU) Public Health Reference Laboratory. KMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, dean basic medical sciences Prof Dr Jawad Ahmed, Director IBMS Dr Zill-e- Huma, Director PHRL Dr. Yasser Yousafzai, Biosafety Officer Dr Hafsa Muhammad and Lab Technologist Mohammad Sajjad were present there.

The minister said the coronavirus outbreak was a major challenge for the entire nation, and the provincial government under Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was struggling hard to cope with this situation by utilizing all the available logistic and human resources. He added that in order to prevent our population and to minimize the threat from COVID 19, we must implement in true spirit the guidelines and precautionary measures drawn by the health experts besides increasing the test capacity up to at least three thousand per day. The health minister said the entire nation pays homage to our health workers working in unfavourable conditions and they are truly role models and heroes of the society. He said that the increase in the reference lab’s technical and human capability within the few days to combat the coronavirus is praiseworthy.

The health minister directed the KMU Vice-Chancellor to prepare a comprehensive and viable plan on war footing basis in view of an expected increase in the coronavirus cases in the upcoming days. The provincial government also intends to increase the number of diagnostic centres on a regional basis, in addition, to increase medical facilities for Corona patients, KMU can contribute a leading role based on their experience to meet this pandemic, he added. Earlier, Dr Arshad Javaid briefed the minister about the performance of the reference lab and said that so far 2871 tests have been done in the lab, out of which 543 are positive, 2241 are negative and 87 are inconclusive.