LARKANA: Doctors at the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) Larkana have refused to perform coronavirus-related duty due to non-availability of proper personal preventive equipment (PPE). According to details, the varsity’s health experts were summoned to collect samples from 27 suspected coronavirus patients of a same family living in Ghalib Nagar area of the district. They, however, refused to perform the duty and their refusal was conveyed to the varsity’s vice chancellor, said District Health Officer (DHO) Ather Shah. Meanwhile, the vice chancellor has complained that the health experts from the university were not provided with proper PPE. “They were given used protective equipment,” he said adding that he has forwarded the complaint of it to the concerned deputy commissioner. A meeting has been called on Wednesday to review the entire matter, the vice chancellor said. It is pertinent to mention here that many medics have contracted the virus while performing their duties in the country due to unsatisfactory arrangements of the protective equipment. In one such unfortunate incident, Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro, who was serving at a private hospital of a charitable organization in Karachi, became the first medic victim of coronavirus from the city on Monday. He was treating the virus patients at a health facility in Gulshan-e-Hadeed area of the city when he contracted the infection on April 02. He was shifted to Indus Hospital for treatment and remained on a ventilator, before he lost his battle against the virus on Monday. The doctor, who was a medical superintendent of Alkhidmat Fareeda Yaqoob Hospital, a charity hospital, has played an important role in establishing a special ward for treating COVID-19 patients.
