KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Sunday inaugurated the newly established 200-bed Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital that would start formal operation with 54 beds and expand within six weeks to its full capacity.

“I am upgrading its status as research centres so that necessary research on the coronavirus and such other diseases could be undertaken. Therefore, now its name would be the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital & Research Centre,” he said while opening the facility.

The chief minister was accompanied by Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho and Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah.

He said he had established two hospitals for coronavirus patients in Karachi and now other hospitals would be established in every divisional headquarters.

25 more Covid-19 patients die as 2,222 new cases emerge

The 400-bed hospital has been constructed at a cost of Rs1,736.359 million near the NIPA traffic intersection.

A provincial government spokesman said that after the pandemic, the chief minister had decided to convert it into an infectious disease hospital. He released a special assistance to the health department so that it could be made operational.

He said the chief minister visited the incomplete structure of the hospital thrice within two months and got its blocks A & B completed. The Block C, ground plus five, is yet to be completed.

He said the chief minister handed over the task of execution and management to the Dow University of Health Sciences, adding that the vice chancellor of Dow University Prof Saeed Qureshi personally got all the hospital equipments installed to make it functional.

The spokesman said in the first phase, 200-bed hospitals housed in blocks A and B had been completed with a special grant released to the Dow University to functionalise it on a most urgent basis.

He said that at present, the works of ground and first floor of blocks A & B was complete and inaugurated by the chief minister.

The spokesman said that the work included the HVAC system based on the principles required for any modern infectious diseases hospital. “In two floors inaugurated by the chief minister, total 54 beds will be functional as eight-bed ground floor emergency, 16-bed ICU with ventilator support and 34 HDU beds,” he added.

He said that in the next phase, second and third floors, which would be made functional within the next six weeks there would be 32 ICU beds and 88 HDU beds.

“In addition to these beds, there are radiology services which include one 500MA X-ray machine, one mobile X-ray unit, one ultrasound machine and one mobile ultrasound unit,” he said.

The spokesman said that there was a complete pharmacy service, including I.V. Admixture Pharmacy, and added that machinery and equipment made available in the hospital included brand new 16 ventilators, 200 monitors with telemetry system.

He said that the human resources posted in the hospital in the first phase included one medical superintendent, one additional MS, one manager (finance and accounts) and one assistant administrator.

Among the clinical staff, the spokesman said there was one assistant professor of infectious disease, one senior registrar, two critical care consultants, three junior critical care consultants, one manger infectious control, one manager nursing, 15 medical officers, nurses, five icu technicians, four pharmacy technicians, 15 war boy.

The janitorial and security services are contracted out.

Covid-19 situation

Sharing the Covid-19 situation report, the chief minister said that 2,222 new cases of the coronavirus were detected when 10,705 tests were conducted, constituting a 21 per cent detection rate.

He added that so far 502,426 samples had been tested against which 94,528 cases diagnosed all over Sindh.

“The overall detection rate is 9 per cent,” he said.

The chief minister said that 25 more Covid-19 patients died overnight, lifting the death toll to 1,526 that constituted 1.6 per cent.

He added that 777 more patients recovered and returned to normal life. “The number of patients who have recovered so far come to 53,165 that constitutes a 56 per cent recovery rate,” he said.

The CM said that currently 39,837 patients were under treatment. Of them, 37,875 were in home isolation, 340 at isolation centres and 1,622 at different hospitals of the province.

He added that 623 patients were stated to be in a critical condition. Of them, 74 had been shifted onto the ventilators.

Mr Shah said that out of 2,222 new cases, Karachi had 770 cases. He added that district East had 237, South 156, Central 126, Korangi 113, Malir 72 and West 66 new cases.

The chief minister said that Ghotki had 294 new cases, Sukkur 128, Kambar 80, Shaheed Benazirabad 75, Dadu 73, Khairpur 61, Badin 57, T.M. Khan 54, Sanghar 51, Kashmore 50, Hyderababd 50, Larkana 48, Mirpurkhas 37, Tando Allahyar 36, Khairpur 33, Jacobabad 15, Matiari 14, Naushahro Feroze and Jamshoro 11 each, Thatta six, Sujawal five and Umerkot had four new cases.

Murad Ali Shah said that the cases of local transmission were on the rise in Ghotki, Sukkur, Kambar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Dadu, Khairpur and Badin.

He directed the administrations of all the districts to take extraordinary measures to control the situation. “The rise in the cases is the result of disregard to the SOPs,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2020