Covid-19 patients in Pakistan have better recovery ratio: Dr Yasmin Rashid

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has said that Pakistan has a better recovery ratio of Covid-19 patients as compared with the statistics of other countries and the final decision to continue the lockdown will be made according to the scale of the local transmission.

While talking to the media during her visit to Dera Ghazi Khan on Wednesday, the minister said, “We had set a target of making eight bio safety level-3 laboratories functional by the start of the pandemic and five of them have already been made functional. The remaining three will be made functional within a month. Besides these eight, the ninth lab will be set up in Rahimyar Khan. With the addition of new labs, we will be able to increase our capacity to 10,000 tests per day. Currently we have more than 55,000 test kits in stock.”

The minister said 145 hotspots for coronavirus have been identified which have been completely sealed in Punjab to stop the spread of the virus in general population. She added the quarantine centres can house over 28,000 patients.

She said, “The good news from Dera Ghazi Khan Quarantine Centre is that only four people were confirmed positive from a total of 820 pilgrims kept at the centre. In view of the pandemic, we envisaged setting up 11 field hospitals in the province. Our public sector hospitals have a capacity of 50,000 beds and private sector hospitals have a capacity of 2,000 beds. The final decision to continue the lockdown will be made according to the scale of the local transmission. We are taking test samples from jails, Darul Aman and from general households.”

The health minister also visited the 50-bed field hospital at Sports Stadium DG Khan. She reviewed the arrangements, met with the doctors and staff at the hospital, and appreciated the district administration for making good arrangements there. She also mentioned that over 62,000 health cards have been distributed in the province.

Earlier, she chaired a meeting of the Academic Staff at Ghazi Medical College. Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq, Medical College Principal Dr. Asif Qureshi, MS Dr Shahid Hussain Magsi, CEO Health Dr Khalil Ahmed and other officers concerned were present on the occasion.