Bureau Report
KARACHI: Due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the wake of relaxation in the lockdown, Karachi’s public and private hospitals treating Covid-19 patients have run out of beds and ventilators.
The number of new Covid-19 infections has seen an alarming increase in the province after Eid as wards dedicated for coronavirus patients in public and private hospitals in the port city are nearly at full capacity and cannot take in any more patients.
Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Civil Hospital, Indus Hospital, Dow Hospital (Ojha campus), and other medical facilities are facing an influx of Covid-19 patients.
Nineteen beds in an HDU and seventeen beds in an ICU of the JPMC are occupied while twelve ventilators earmarked for Covid-19 patients with serious condition at the Civil Hospital are too occupied.
There is no different situation at the Indus Hospital where neither bed nor ventilator is free. Dow Hospital, Ojha campus also has all its beds and ventilators occupied. All 51 beds and six ventilators earmarked for Covid-19 patients at Ziauddin hospital are occupied.
Officials at the Sindh health department said they saw a spike in the number of infections after Eid holidays.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Khurram Sher Zaman on Thursday warned the Sindh government against reimposing a lockdown in the port city to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Speaking at a press conference, he said his party will oppose the Sindh Govt any such move, alleging the PPP-led government wants to cause economic damage by imposing the lockdown.
Khurram Sher Zaman said the world is coming to the realisation that the lockdown is no solution.
He said the Sindh Govt decision to close shops and other businesses at 5pm will not help control the deadly virus.
He asked Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to share facts about the coronavirus situation instead of frightening people. He demanded of the government to allow fuel stations to stay open round the clock to facilitate motorists.
The PTI MPA from Karachi further demanded that barbershops and beauty salons be also allowed to reopen.
Recounting hardships faced by the common man due to closure of public transport, he asked the government to allow public transporters to bring their buses on the roads to mitigate the suffering of commuters.
He claimed hundreds of thousands of people are losing their livelihoods daily because of the government’s measures.
One the other hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded 7 more COVID-19 deaths on Thursday as the number of people that succumbed to the the virus reached 432 in the province, media reported.
According to a spokesperson of KP health department, a total of 359 new cases of coronavirus were reported during the last 24 hours, making the total count of the infected people in the province 8842.
2,693 patients of the virus have thus far recovered from the ailment including 61 during the last 24 hours.
The nationwide tally of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has soared to 61,227 after the emergence of as many as 2,076 new infections during the previous 24 hours.
According to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 36 more people died from the coronavirus, pushing the total number of fatalities across the country to 1,260.
20,231 patients have so far recovered from the virus.
Pakistan has so far conducted 508,086 coronavirus tests, including 8,687 in last 24 hours.
