Special Report: KP govt enhancing facilities as coronavirus cases rise

PESHAWAR: The rise in the number of coronavirus patients and fatalities has prompted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to increase the number of health facilities across the province to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Presently, 10 major hospitals of KP are treating coronavirus patients. These hospitals have dedicated 452 beds of the intensive care units (ICUs) and high dependency units (HDUs) for coronavirus patients. However, the available space is shrinking fast due to increasing number of coronavirus patients. The wards at hospitals have been kept at standby for converting them into ICUs for corona patients if needed.

The 110 other small and large hospitals in the province have established isolation wards comprising 856 beds. KP has got the capability of testing 2,860 corona patients daily. So far, 11,890 patients have tested positive in KP, while 521 have lost their lives, according to data available till Thursday. The death ratio in KP is about 5 percent, which is comparatively higher than other provinces. However, beds and ventilators are available for patients.

Official documents say 140 beds are available for ICU for COVID-19 patients in which 99 patients are admitted, while 41 beds are still unoccupied. Similarly, 312 beds are available in HDUs in which 210 patients are admitted and 102 more patients can be accommodated.

KP Health Minister Taimur Jhagra said the KP government constantly changes its plan to deal with the emergency according to emerging situations. He told The News that the most serious patients are shifted to ICU, relatively less serious patients are kept at HDU and routine patients are kept at normal wards. He said the situation in KP is under control, but people will have to observe precaution.

In the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Peshawar, out of 20 ICU beds, 19 are occupied and one is empty. In HDU 65 patients are admitted while total beds are 66. For general patients, there are 19 ICU beds in HMC and 12 of these are occupied. For general patients, there are 800 beds in the hospital and 380 of these are occupied. There are 42 dedicated beds for the hospital’s quarantine centre and 17 of these are occupied. 25 ventilators are available for corona patients and 19 of these are under use, while 19 ventilators are available for other patients.

In Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Peshawar, out of 11 ICU beds, eight are occupied and three are empty. In HDU 57 patients are admitted while total beds are also 57 which means it is filled to capacity. For general patients, there are 1,225 beds in the hospital and 342 of these are occupied. There are 20 dedicated beds for the hospital’s quarantine centre and 10 of these are occupied. As per official data, out of 56 ventilators, 25 are reserved for coronavirus patients.

The KP government hospitals have made available 508 ventilators for corona patients, while 179 ventilators are also available at private hospitals.

In the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar, out of 25 ICU beds, 23 are occupied and two are empty. In HDU 27 patients are admitted while total beds are 80. For general patients, there are 18 ICU beds in LRH and 13 of these are occupied.

The LRH as the biggest hospital in KP has the largest number of beds in ICUs and ventilators. The hospital has 43 ventilators in which 25 are meant for the COVID-19 patients.

In Saidu Teaching Hospital (STH) Swat, out of 25 ICU beds, 16are occupied and nine are empty. In HDU 25 patients are admitted while total beds are also 25 which means it is filled to capacity. Out of 23 ventilators, only one is under use.

Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) from its 344 beds capacity has mostly been accommodating COVID-19 patients. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, MMC was one of the few hospitals that accommodated COVID-19 patients brought it to from Manga village, where the virus was first reported in KP. The first patient, Saadat Khan who died due to Covid-19 in Pakistan also belonged to Manga.

Though MMC had reserved 100 beds for corona patients, on which 12 patients are admitted. In its 16 beds ICU for corona patients, 13 are occupied. In HDU’s 14 beds, 12 are occupied. Out of 20 ventilators, only three are under use.

Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Abbottabad has 1,250 total beds, 442 patients are admitted. ATH has reserved 91 beds for corona patients. It has 25 ventilators and 13 are meant for COVID-19 patients and only two of them are under use. There are 12 ventilators for general patients and seven of them are under use.

As per official data shared by the KP health department, there is no ventilator available for COVID-19 patients in Bajaur tribal district, Lower Kohistan, Upper Kohistan, Lakki Marwat, Mansehra, Nowshera, Haripur, etc. In most of the districts, the hospitals either don’t have ventilators or have failed to reserve any for corona patients.

However, and HDU has been set up in Bajaur having capacity of 10 patients and four patients are under treatment there.

DHQ Hospital Upper Dir also doesn’t have ICU. However, it has a 10-bed HDU where eight patients are admitted.

In DHQ Hospital Karak, there is a 15-bed ICU for corona patients, but no patient is admitted there. HDU has 10 beds where seven patients are admitted. Five isolation beds have also been set up for corona patients and three of these are occupied.

In Bacha Khan Medical Complex Shah Mansoor, Swabi, out of 16 ICU beds, only one is occupied. In HDU 11 patients are admitted while total beds are 20. There are 16 ventilators for corona and 10 for other patients and none of these is under use.

In DHQ Hospital Battagram, out of 10 ICU beds, five are occupied.

In DHQ Hospital Batkhela, out of 20 beds for corona patients, six are occupied.

There are 24 isolation beds for corona patients in DHQ Hospital Lower Dir and 13 are occupied. For general patients, there are 380 beds and 250 are occupied.

In DHQ Hospital Kurram, out of 40 beds for corona patients, 12 are occupied.

In DHQ Hospital Haripur, six out of 16 isolation beds for corona patients are occupied.

Qazi Medical Complex Nowshera one ventilator out of three for corona patients is under use. There are 16 beds for corona patients and four of these are under use.

There are 25 isolation beds for corona patients in Mufti Mehmood Memorial Hospital DI Khan and 14 are occupied. For general patients, there are 380 beds and 250 are occupied. No ventilator out of 11 is under use.

In DHQ Hospital Lower Chitral, 10 out of 30isolation beds for corona patients are occupied, while in DHQ Hospital Landikotal, 39 out of 130 isolation beds for corona patients are occupied.

Also, the KP government has arranged investigations for COVID-19 patients in 14 laboratories. Most of the labs are in the province while two are in Islamabad.

They include Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar, Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar, Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Peshawar, Mardan Medical Complex (MMC), Saidu Teaching Hospital (STH) Swat, Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital, Bannu, the private sector Rehman Medical Institute) Peshawar, Northwest General Hospital, Peshawar, Anwar Lab, Shahina Jameel Hospital, Abbottabad, and National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad and Islamabad Diagnostic Centre.

In KP, 545 ventilators are available, including 365 in the public sector hospitals and 179 in the private hospitals.

KP has so far lost 520 people to coronavirus and recorded 10,897 positive cases.

There are eight dedicated hospitals for coronavirus patients in Peshawar city district, including the three tertiary care hospitals - Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). Others are the Type D Hospital Nahaqi, Type D Hospital Badaber, Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital, Type D Hospital Ghara Tajik, and Type D Hospital Mattani.

Swat is the second most affected district from corona in KP after Peshawar. It has lost 45 people so far and reported 892 positive cases.

Eight hospitals in Swat are dedicated for the treatment of coronavirus patients. The biggest health facility in Swat is the tertiary care Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital, which is in the public sector. It has 1,104 beds in which 100 have been reserved for COVID-19 patients. It is the only teaching hospital in the Malakand Division which has eight districts including Swat.

Out of 29 ventilators available at the Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital, 23 are meant for the COVID-19 patients. Other hospitals in Swat are Kabal Hospital, Isolation Centre in Matta which is the hometown of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Barikot Isolation Centre, Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital, Manglawar Swat, CH Khwazakhela, CH Madyan, and CH Kalam. Except the teaching hospital in Saidu Sharif, there is no ventilator available in the other hospitals in Swat. Two private hospitals are also offering services to the corona patients in Swat. One hospital has two ventilators. One of the ventilators has been dedicated to the Covid-19 patients.

In Mardan, there are two public sector hospitals - Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) and District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) that provide services to coronavirus patients. In Abbottabad, there are three public sector hospitals dedicated for accommodating corona patients. These are Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH), BBS (DHQ) Abbottabad, and Type D Hospital, Havelian.

In Bannu, the 230-bed Khalifa Gul Nawaz Teaching Hospital has dedicated 20 beds for corona patients. It has 15 ventilators, including seven reserved for the critical corona patients.