Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi on Friday warned that hospitals would not be able to cope with the COVID patients if cases continue to witness a rising trend. In a video message shared from the official Twitter handle, the president said that COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in the region and even Pakistan’s cases have gone beyond 5,000 besides a record increase in COVID deaths. “If this rising trend continues, then the situation will go out of the hands of the hospitals,” he said while urging people to act upon the teachings of discipline taught by the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
Arif Alvi said that the Muslims should adopt precautionary measures to remain steadfast during these testing times. “Wear masks during Ramazan, Taraweeh, Youm-e-Ali, and Eid occasions,” he said while uring elderly people to avoid going for Taraweeh as per the directives of clerics and maintain three feet distance during prayers.
He said that the masses should adopt strict precautionary measures as government and private sector do not have enough resources to deal with the pandemic. It is pertinent to mention here that the ventilator occupancy at Punjab government hospitals has already reached 96 percent amid an increasing number of critical COVID patients.
As per the official figures, the bed occupancy situation in the intensive care and high dependency units of the public sector hospitals in Lahore was alarming. The people are finding it difficult in acquiring a ventilator at the eight hospitals of Punjab, allocated for the coronavirus patients. The data shows out of 84 ventilators at Mayo Hospital, 80 are currently in use of critically ill patients. 32 ventilators allocated for the COVID critical patients at the Services Hospital are also occupied.
