Two health facilities identified to keep confirmed, suspected coronavirus patients

The Sindh health department has decided to convert a 50-bed newly constructed hospital in the city’s suburbs as the ‘exclusive treatment facility’ for coronavirus patients in Sindh, officials said on Friday.

They added that they had also identified another health facility, also in the suburbs of Karachi, to quarantine the suspected coronavirus patients. “Government of Sindh has identified a newly-constructed 50-bed health facility in the city suburbs to be used as treatment facility for coronavirus patients. Indus hospital has been contacted by the government to make it operational and hand it over to the health department officials,” said Dr Abdul Bari Khan, the chairman of Indus Health Network (IHN), while talking to The News on Friday.

Infectious diseases experts had advised the Sindh government to establish or identify a separate health facility to keep and treat the confirmed coronavirus patients away from other patients as coronavirus could infect other patients under treatment at the general health facilities.

A team of the Sindh health department and the IHN on Friday visited the newly-constructed health facility in Malir District and found it a ‘perfect place’ to keep the coronavirus patients at the health facility, away from the city, while the joint team also identified another health facility in the nearby area where suspected patients could be kept in quarantine.

Officials are on high alert since the last couple of days after a young man, who had recently returned from Iran, was found infected with coronavirus. The authorities have decided to have all the people tested for the disease who returned back to different cities of Sindh from Iran during the last two months.

The Sindh minister chief minister has also been holding daily meetings on the issue of possible coronavirus outbreak in the city. Dr Khan said the hospital identified by the health department that would be turned into a ‘coronavirus treatment facility’ was a brand new building, which was completed last year. He added that it had an additional floor, where another 75 bedscould be arranged if the number of patients increased in the coming days.

“We are in the process of purchasing over two to three dozen ventilators, of which eight to 10 ventilators would be installed at the coronavirus treatment facility while the remaining would be provided to the other health facility in the province,” he explained, adding that after making the hospital functional, they would hand it over to the health department.

To a query, he said all the necessary and required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Hazmat Suits were being purchased by the Indus Health Network and added that their staff would also train the health department officials on dealing with the Coronavirus patients before handing over the facility to them.

An official of the Sindh health department, while confirming the report, told The News that the health facility identified as the coronavirus treatment facility had a newly-built intensive care unit (ICU), functional X-ray room and other facilities. The official added that the equipment was being arranged to establish a diagnostic lab and other facilities so that it could work as a proper health facility for the confirmed Coronavirus patients.

The health department official maintained that the confirmed patients of coronavirus would be shifted from the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Indus Hospital, Dow University Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital and Lyari General Hospital in the fully-equipped ambulances of the Aman Foundation.

The official maintained that the IHN was helping them make the health facility functional while the AKUH and the Dow University of Health Science had the facilities to diagnose coronavirus patients.