Decision to implement emergency in hospitals praised

LAHORE:Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) lauded the decision of Punjab government to implement health emergency in hospitals across Punjab.

An emergency meeting of PMA Lahore executive body was held here on Sunday at PMA House. The meeting was chaired by President Prof Dr Ashraf Nizami and attended by Prof Dr Malik Shahid Shaukat, Dr Izhar Ahmad Ch, Prof Dr Tanveer Anwar, Prof Dr Khalid Mehmood Khan, Dr Ahmad Naeem, Dr Bushra Haq, Dr Wajid Ali, Dr Talha, Dr Salman Kazmi and Dr Ammar Anwer.

The president urged the government to start Covid-19 vaccination for families of healthcare professionals and patients with chronic diseases (asthma, diabetes, cancer, renal failure) as they were most susceptible to Covid-19. Concern was expressed on rising cases of Coronavirus. It was decided to demand that the government should implement a complete lockdown for a period of 2 – 3 weeks in big cities of Punjab, especially Lahore to reduce the positivity of Covid-19. It was brought into notice of the executive committee that the corona wards in public sector hospitals were running at full capacity and patients had to consult private hospitals for admissions.

The PMA demanded the nationalisation of hospitals affiliated with private medical colleges on temporary basis for treatment of Covid-19 patients. 95 quackery centres sealed: The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has sealed 95 centres of quacks in 10 cities after carrying out raids on 638 centres during the last week.

As per the data, on 28 centres, qualified physicians have started treating patients while other businesses have been started on 204 quackery centres. The commission will also keep surveillance of 269 treatment centres, which were being run by qualified physicians at the time of raids.

The PHC enforcement teams had carried out raids on over 500 centres in six cities and their adjoining areas, where 15 each centres were closed down in Faisalabad and Okara, 14 each in Lahore and Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh 11, and 10 in Rawalpindi, while others included Attock 9, Sialkot 5, and one each in Sargodha and Kasur. Among these, the maximum number 57 was of the quacks posing as general physicians and the rest were medicine stores, dental centres, laboratories, maternity homes, etc.

In Lahore, Shaikh Clinic, Rizwan Clinic, Noman Dental Clinic, Akram Clinic, Family Welfare Clinic, Shafique Clinic, Gulshan-e-Daud Free Dispensary, Saleem Clinic, Ali Maternity Home, Naseem Clinic, Faisal Welfare Dispensary, Zubair Awais Clinic, Mother and Child Care Maternity Home and O2 Laboratory. A spokesperson of the commission has also added that the PHC has so far closed down over 31,700 quacks’ centres, and imposed a fine of more than Rs678 million.