KP health minister says five key interventions made to contain Covid-19

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Health and Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra on Thursday said that the provincial government was implementing a comprehensive and robust response to Covid-19 pandemic.

He was speaking at a joint press conference along with Ajmal Khan Wazir, Advisor to Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations, at the Civil Secretariat. The health minister said there was not a single confirmed coronavirus case in six districts including Lower Chitral, Upper Chitral, Lower Kohistan, Upper Kohistan, Kolai-Palas and Battagram. He added that 11 other districts have 10 or less than 10 confirmed patients so far.

“Peshawar and Mardan districts have been hit the hardest by the pandemic,” he said. He added that Peshawar reported 38 new cases in the last 24 hours while two confirmed cases were reported from Mardan in the last seven days. Taimur Jhagra said the government had made five key interventions to combat Covid-19 pandemic in the province by launching a locum tenens system, establishing rapid response teams, procuring essential medical/quarantine facilities and supplies, enhancing testing capacity and facilitating Ehsaas beneficiaries.

He said the government was increasing the workforce in health sector. “The locum tenens system has been established to engage medical professionals across various fields to address the shortfall in staff because of Covid-19 situation,” he explained.

To ensure transparency and efficiency in the system, the minister said technology had been used to register, track attendance and release payments to new medical staff inducted in the system.

He pointed out that the KP government had established 200 medical isolation facilities in hospitals with a capacity of 4,093 beds for Covid-19 patients. In addition, he said, 296 quarantine centres were currently operational across the province.

The government had placed orders for purchase of essential medical equipment and supplies worth Rs3.8 billion, he said. He added that the Health Department had already distributed essential personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals including 778,400 latex gloves, 707,924 masks 3 ply, 37,247 and N-95 masks. Besides, he said live dashboard has been established to assess hospital- wise stock in each district. The health minister said the KP government was rapidly enhancing testing capacity by expanding it from 350 tests per day last week to 540 tests per day this week. He said that by augmentation in public sector, initialization of new labs and engagement with private sector; the government has the potential to increase capacity up to 2,000 per day by end of April 2020.

Speaking on the occasion, Ajmal Wazir said the government’s social-distancing measures have been effective in controlling the spread of the virus. However, he argued that more cooperation is required from the public in this regard over the next two weeks.

He lauded the services of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health workers along with media persons working in the frontlines in the struggle to contain coronavirus. He said Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was personally monitoring the arrangements and getting briefings from all departments on a daily basis.