Gujrat hospital isolation ward nurse dies of coronavirus

LAHORE: A staff nurse died while serving the coronavirus patients at Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital in Gujrat on Friday without having been tested for Covid-19 despite doctor’s advice.

Sadaf Jameel (38) was serving Covid-19 patients in isolation ward at the Gujrat hospital when her condition started to deteriorate, and she was put on a ventilator.

“The staff nurse’s swab test for coronavirus was not sent until she expired on Friday despite doctors’ prescription of her Covid-19 test,” said Dr Salman Haseeb Chaudhry, president of Young Doctors Association (YDA) and chairman Grand Health Alliance (GHA), Punjab.

Earlier, he alleged, doctors and nurses had requested the hospital administration time and again to change her duty from the isolation ward due to rapid deterioration in her condition. On Friday, the staff nurse breathed her last while being on ventilator as she was described to have died of natural cause in her death certificate. Therefore, according to the hospital sources, nurse’s death should not be considered a Covid-19 fatality.

Nineteen patients have died from coronavirus in Punjab so far including 11 in Lahore, four in Rawalpindi and one each in Rahim Yar Khan, Jhelum, Faisalabad and Gujrat.

Meanwhile, 112 new Covid-19 patients were reported from across the province on Friday, taking the number of confirmed cases to 2,336. Out of the confirmed patients, 696 are members of Tablighi Jamaat, 700 pilgrims who had returned from Iran, 80 prisoners and 810 citizens, who either had travel history or fell victim to local transmission.

Of the 696 confirmed Covid-19 Tablighi Jamaat members, 449 are at quarantine centre at Raiwind, 35 in Hafizabad, 32 in Bhakkar, 25 each in Jhelum and Vehari, 22 in Sargodha, 19 in Sialkot, 16 in Layyah, 13 in Mandi Bahauddin, 10 in Gujrat, nine each in Bahawalnagar and Sheikhupura, seven in Mianwali, six each in Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, four in Rahim Yar Khan, three in Narowal, two each in Nankana Sahib and Khushab and one in Rajanpur. As many as 10,263 people, who recently attended Tablighi Ijtema, are at quarantine centres in 33 districts for testing and isolation.

Out of 700 confirmed patients from amongst pilgrims, 457 are at quarantine centre in Multan, 220 in Dera Ghazi Khan and 23 in Faisalabad.

So far 804 citizens have also been tested positive for the virus in 28 districts of the province. The highest number of cases has been reported in Lahore where 369 patients are under treatment at different centres. Ninety-nine patients are under treatment in Gujrat, 64 in Rawalpindi, 38 in Gujranwala, 29 in Jhelum, 28 in Faisalabad, 27 in Sialkot, 22 in Rahim Yar Khan, 18 in DG Khan, 13 in Vehari, 12 in Hafizabad, nine each in Mianwali and Kasur, eight each in Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Chiniot, five each in Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur, four in Multan, three each in Khushab, Sheikhupura and Lodhran, two in Toba Tek Singh and one each in Attock, Layyah, Okara and Jhang.