Public Sector Hospitals Don’t Have Quarantining Facilities
Pak Chronicle Report
Islamabad
Its matter of real concern that Pakistan lacks required healthcare facilities at public sector hospitals to do deal with situation with regard to quarantining patients being suspected as victim of some viral disease.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) in a recently issued statement expressed very much concerned over the poor healthcare system of the country.
“You can well imagine the situation by one example of a suspected man of coronavirus in Karachi recently who is being isolated at a private hospital in Karachi because there is complete lacking of facilities at public hospitals not only in Karachi but all over Pakistan.
We also do not have such facilities at our airports to quarantine any case. Although there are few rooms available for quarantine at Karachi airport but without required facilities,” stated the press release.
PMA has always highlighted the health issues of the country. We have also offered recommendations and placed a charter of demands for the governments to implement and improve the health delivery system in Pakistan but the voice of PMA always fall on deaf ears.
It maintained that regarding Coronavirus PMA had earlier demanded to evacuate Pakistani students from china but now after a single suspected case of coronavirus has been kept at a private hospital because of lacking of required facilities at public hospitals.
In this scenario the students should not be shifted to Pakistan and it is better to keep them in China, because China has a strong health delivery system and if any student suffers from Corona Virus he could be very well managed in China. Our sympathies are with the parents but the situation is complex.
PMA regrets that due to the lacking of facilities in our health department our government could not evacuate our students. Even Bangladesh and India has evacuated their students from Wuhan two days back.
“We request the government to financially and logistically support all affectees particularly students in China. In future whenever you bring back these students they will have to be kept quarantine. We should prepare our self for future to handle such situation. We have no viral diagnostic facilities throughout the country except one place at Islamabad,” the press release concluded.
Lack of quarantine facilities in public sector hospitals seems to be the main reason for Pakistan to sign a MoU with the Chinese government under which Pakistanis in China can’t travel back to country till they complete 14 days observation period over there.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza had announced recently that no Pakistani will be allowed to travel back to the country from China till they complete a 14-day observation period.
While addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday he had stated that the agreement in this regard had been finalised in a meeting held with the Chinese envoy in Pakistan.
There is immense need in the country to setup laboratories in Pakistan which can diagnose viral infections besides setting up and upgrading quarantine facilities at the hospital.
Pakistani authorities can learn a lot from their counterparts in China as how they worked on war-footing basis to deal with spread of coronavirus over there.
On other hand Pakistan even don’t have quarantine facilities as its public sector hospitals.
Ends
