Dealing with Covid-19: CM Mahmood Khan says KP govt enhancing hospitals capacity

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is taking steps to enhance the capacities of the public sector hospitals to effectively deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

An official handout said this was revealed in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to review the progress on the capacity expansion plan of public sector hospitals with regard to the prevailing coronavirus situation. Besides Provincial Minister for Health Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Adviser to CM, Ajmal Wazir, NDMA Chairman, Lt-Gen. Muhammad Afzal, Director General National Command & Operation Centre, Major General Asif Goraya and KP Chief Secretary Kazim Niaz, the meeting was also attended by relevant administrative secretaries and representatives of 11 Corps. The meeting was briefed in details about the existing capacity of public sector hospitals of the province to deal with coronavirus patients, and steps being taken to augment the overall capacity of these hospitals. In the first phase, 478 High Dependency Unit (HDU) beds will be added to the existing capacity by the end of this month. In the second phase, 315 more beds will be added by the end of next month whereas 150 more beds will be added in the third phase. Steps are being taken to expand the capacity of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds of public sector hospitals for coronavirus patients under a given timeline. The meeting was informed that as per the capacity expansion plan, 90 HDU beds would be added to the existing capacity of Hayatabad Medical Complex, 50 to Khyber Teaching Hospital, 40 to Mardan Medical Complex, 50 to Qazi Hussain Ahmad Hospital Nowshera, 50 to Saidu Group of Hospitals, 50 to Bacha Khan Medical Complex Swabi, 100 to Women & Children Hospital Rajjar and 48 HDU beds to Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad in the first phase of the plan.

In the 2nd Phase, 50 HDU beds will be added to the existing capacity of Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital in Bannu, 30 to Mufti Mahmood Memorial Hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, 50 to District Headquarters Hospital Batkhela and 85 to Institute of Hepthalogy Peshawar. Up to 100 HDU beds will be added to the Women and Children Block of the Ayub Teaching Hospital and 150 beds to Peshawar Institute of Cardiology in collaboration with NDMA in the next phase. The meeting was further told that the number of ICU beds were also being increased to facilitate the critical patients of coronavirus. In the first phase, 25 ICU beds would be added to the existing strength of Lady Reading Hospital, 25 to Hayatabad Medical Complex, 25 to Khyber Teaching Hospital, 10 to Mardan Medical Complex, 10 to Qazi Hussain Ahmad Hospital Nowshera and 05 to Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. In the second Phase 50 ICU beds will be added to the existing number of ICU beds in Peshawar Institute of Cardiology. The NDMA chairman was briefed about the details of other medical equipment urgently required in the public sector hospitals of the province.

These included ventilators, cardiac monitors, oxygen contractors, PCR Machines and portable Ultrasounds, etc. The NDMA chief assured the authority will arrange ventilators and other allied facilities of Intensive Care for 350 patients of Covid-19 in the province within the next 15 days.

The chief minister directed the Health Department to take steps to make the existing coronavirus testing laboratories of public sector hospitals to work 24/7 in three different shifts.