MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that the spirit of doctors and other medical staff saving lives of people at the peril of their own lives has kept the Covid-19 pandemic in AJK under control.

Speaking at two functions organised by Pakistan Red Crescent Society, at the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) and the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on Friday to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) and medicines among doctors, nurses and paramedical staff, Mr Khan said: “By virtue of timely steps taken by the AJK government, effective lockdown and determination of doctors, the number of Covid-19 patients is just 107 in AJK and of them only one has lost his life while 76 have recovered.”

“Allah be praised, the AJK has the highest recovery rate in Pakistan and this has happened because the government, the people and the medical community are on the same page to combat the pandemic.”

Mr Khan said that there was no separate isolation facility or hospital in AJK at the time of the outbreak of Covid-19, but today there were 68 isolation centres.

“Not only the virology department at the AIMS Muzaffarabad has been upgraded, testing facility has also been provided at Rawalakot and Mirpur,” he said, adding that a proposal was also under study to train 1,500 members of the medical staff to respond to outbreak of Covid-19 disease in future also.

Mr Khan said that the lockdown had been relaxed in AJK to help the people and urged shopkeepers and shoppers to take all precautionary measures and avoid crowds at business centres and other places.

He paid tribute to philanthropists for helping the affected people and the government in coping with the challenge. The government, he said, was also helping the affected people from its own resources.

He said there was no dearth of health infrastructure and health equipment in AJK and at present 68 ventilators were available while demand for more had been submitted to the federal government.

Referring to the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir, Mr Khan said that people there were facing more difficulties.

“We have enforced the lockdown to protect lives of the people while in occupied Kashmir, the people particularly the youth are being massacred under the garb of the lockdown,” he said.

“Coronavirus is rapidly spreading in occupied Kashmir and doctors are unable to properly treat the people there because of inadequate protective equipment,” he said, adding, this state of affairs had posed serious dangers to lives of Kashmiri people in held Kashmir.

Later, the AJK president handed over face masks, sanitisers, first aid kits and PPE to CMH Commandant and AIMS Executive Director.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2020