Sindh to set up 100-bed isolation facility in Karachi for passengers testing positive

• Facility to be used to isolate passengers diagnosed with coronavirus. 
• Nasir Shah appeals to businessmen, civil society members and other stakeholders in Karachi to strictly follow SOPs.
• KMC sets up a COVID-19 vigilance committee comprising of five senior doctors at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

KARACHI: In view of the rising cases from abroad, the Sindh government has announced to establish a 100-bed isolation facility in District Malir to quarantine passengers coming to Karachi airport, reported The News.

The decision was taken on Wednesday at a top-level meeting held at the Sindh Secretariat with Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah in chair.

The chief secretary asked the Karachi commissioner and Malir deputy commissioner to establish a 100-bed facility to isolate passengers diagnosed with coronavirus. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Sindh would provide all the necessary facilities for the purpose.

A similar 100-bed COVID-19 isolation facility would also be established at the Karachi Expo Centre.

COVID-19 facilities enhanced 

The meeting also decided to increase the intensive care unit beds with ventilators and beds with oxygen support at all the government-run hospitals of in view of the alarming increase in the COVID-19 cases.

Sindh Health Secretary Dr Kazim Jatoi informed the meeting that the medical superintendents of all the government-run hospitals of the city had been authorised to recruit people on an immediate basis to overcome the shortage of staff.

During th meeting, the chief secretary said that the health care facilities in the city had been under immense pressure due to the increasing number of COVID-19 patients. 

The meeting was informed that till August 4, 32 ventilators, 110 HDU beds, 40 beds having the facility of oxygen would be added to the government-run hospitals of the city. Eight more ventilators and many HDU beds would also be provided to the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital in Karachi.

The chief secretary informed the meeting that oxygen tanks were also being established in the government-run hospitals for the Covid-19 patients. He asked the provincial finance department to immediately release additional funds required by the health care facilities of Karachi to tackle the fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

The meeting was attended by Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali, Karachi Commissioner Naveed Ahmed Shaikh, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Administrator Laeeq Ahmed and medical superintendents of all the government-run hospitals in the city.

Nasir Shah asks people to follow SOPs

Meanwhile, Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Nasir Shah appealed to the businessmen, civil society members and other stakeholders in Karachi to strictly follow the standard operating procedures issued by the government against the spread of coronavirus infections.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the information minister said pressure of the COVID-19 patients on the government-run hospitals had been on the rise due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.

He appealed to the citizens in Karachi to observe safety precautions as much as they could and curtail unnecessary movement outside their homes for the protection of their own health and their loved ones.

Nasir also advised the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan, and Jamaat-e-Islami to refrain from doing political point-scoring.