Pakistan has a better recovery ratio of COVOD-19 patients : Dr Yasmin Rashid

Lahore : Pakistan has a better recovery ratio of COVOD-19 patients compared with statistics of other countries and the final decision to continue the lockdown will be made according to the scale of the local transmission, said Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid while talking to media during her visit to Dera Ghazi Khan on Wednesday.

The Minister said, “We had set a target of making eight Bio Safety Level-3 Laboratories functional by the start of the Pandemic and five of them have already been made functional. The remaining three will be made functional within a month. Besides these eight, the ninth lab will be set up at Rahim Yar Khan. With the addition of new labs, we will be able to increase our capacity to 10,000 tests per day. Currently we have more than 55,000 test kits in stock.”

The Minister said as many 145 hotspots for Corona virus have been identified completely sealed in Punjab to stop the spread of the virus in general population. She added the Quarantine Centers can house over 28,000 patients. 

The Minister said, “The good news from Dera Ghazi Khan Quarantine Center is that only four peoples were confirmed positive from a total of 820 pilgrims kept at the Center. In view of the Pandemic, we envisaged setting up 11 Field Hospitals in the province. Our Public Sector hospitals have a capacity of 50,000 beds and private sector hospitals have a capacity of 20,00 beds. The final decision to continue the lockdown will be made according to the scale of the local transmission. We are taking test samples from jails, Darul Aman and from general households.”

The Health Minister also visited the 50-bedded Field Hospital at the Sports Stadium DG Khan. She reviewed the arrangements, met the doctors and staff at the hospital, and appreciated the district administration for making good arrangements. She also mentioned that over 62,000 health cards have been distributed in the province. 

Earlier, she chaired the meeting of the Academic Staff at Ghazi Medical College. Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq, Principal Medical College Dr. Asif Qureshi, MS Dr. Shahid Hussain Magsi, CEO Health Dr. Khalil Ahmed, Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Samiullah Farooq, DSO Ataur Rehman and others were present on the occasion.