By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said on Friday that the government now has a plan to deal with the situation of pilgrims coming to Pakistan from Iran, which has been hit with the coronavirus epidemic.
Dr Mirza said he has reviewed the situation at the Taftan-Zahedan border.
During his visit, the health adviser said that the over next few days the authorities will gradually allow Pakistani ‘zaireens’ or pilgrims returning from Iran to enter the country, after full health screening.
He further said that the point of entry is being strengthened.
On Wednesday, Pakistan recorded its first two cases of coronavirus, with one each being in Karachi and Islamabad. The patients had returned recently from Iran.
Earlier, Dr Mirza said that the two patients were stable and their condition was improving. “Contacts traced until now and tested are all negative,” he added.
Separately, the Sindh health department cleared the family of Pakistan’s first confirmed coronavirus patient after screening.
The 22-year-old had arrived in Karachi on February 20, indicating that there were chances that the thermal screening machines at the airports for those entering the country may not have worked after all.
The machines are supposed to immediately detect higher-than-usual body temperature.
A day earlier, Iran had reported seven new deaths from the coronavirus infection in the country over the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 26 as the country struggles to contain the spread of the virus both at home and beyond its borders.
Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour also told a press briefing that 106 more cases of the disease had been confirmed, raising the tally of infections to 245, the highest outside China where COVID-19 originated. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Friday conducted hearing on a case pertaining to return of Pakistani students quarantined in China and directed Dr. Zafar Mirza and Zulfi Bukhari – Special Assistants to the Prime Minister (SAPMs) on Health and Overseas Pakistanis respectively – to meet parents of the students. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case. The court expressed displeasure when the health ministry representative told it about the formation of a committee to assist the parents.
Justice Athar Minallah remarked, “Do not tell the court about the committee. Why is the government of Pakistan irresponsible? The affectees are complaining continuously. It is the duty of the federal cabinet to solve the matter, not of the foreign ministry. Why should not some federal ministers be sent to China on a visit?”
The foreign ministry representative maintained that the government is waiting for fresh report from China and the cabinet will take decision afterwards. The lawyer representing parents of the stranded students argued that there is a clear difference between the statements of the students and the government, and took the stance that the court should issue an order in this case also if it can summon a prime minister. Justice Athar Minallah said, “The situation is complicated and the decision is to be taken by the government. This is a court and there is no expert here who can solve this matter. The petition is only being heard to satisfy the parents.” The IHC declared that a four-member team comprising the counsels of the parents will meet Dr. Zafar Mirza, Zulfi Bukhari and cabinet secretary. The hearing was adjourned till March 6.
Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has decided to issue fast track licenses and registration of the product for speedy manufacturing of surgical masks, a tool to avert novel coronavirus that has already claimed over 2500 lives globally. The decision was made on the directives of the Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza after the prices of the product surged to an unexpected level across the country over the confirmation of two virus-affected cases in the country. “We are making all-out efforts to ensure that equipment required to deal with the coronavirus is available within the country,” he said.
Implementing on the directives, the drug regulatory authority issued a handout allowing fast track licenses and registration process for those willing to manufacture surgical masks. “The manufacturing companies will be issued licenses on urgent basis if they plan to manufacture devices for producing face masks and other materials required to deal with the virus,” a handout issued by DRAP read. A day before, Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of exorbitant prices being charged by retailers for coronavirus preventive masks. A crackdown has been initiated against all those hoarding the product used to cover the face and selling it at hiked prices by the orders of the premier. Authorities have raided a mask manufacturing company in Rawalpindi, 20,000 masks being sold on jacked up prices have been seized. The owner of the manufacturing company was selling a mask priced Rs12 at Rs40.
