A major quarantine site in Hyderabad readied well in time
THE site is 11 kilometres away from Latifabad Unit-7, on the outskirts of Hyderabad off Tando Mohammad Khan road. It has been lying unused for as long as one can remember.
But now the administration has decided to utilise the labour department’s site comprising four blocks of around 1,500 flats and a vast open space around them for setting up a quarantine centre.
“The government can keep [suspected] patients from other cities here once it is ready. The labour department is going to get a separate [electricity supply] feeder for it at a cost of Rs83 million. Transformers have already been installed,” Sharjeel Inam Memon, a former provincial minister and PPP stalwart from Hyderabad district, told Dawn.
According to him, the Sindh government will make this facility operational as soon as possible.
Two blocks out of four, each having 32 flats (two rooms and a lounge), have been readied to serve as quarantine centre any time. It means 1,500 flats cumulatively will be made available to house 5,000-6,000 (four beds in two rooms) patients, if the need arises.
Since the flats have been lying abandoned for a long time, the department’s employees are now busy in installing sanitary fittings and electricity connections to keep remaining blocks ready.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has provided 300 beds to the health department to make labour department’s dispensary functional in order to enable it to handle emergency cases. “The pace of work is satisfactory and the site will be ready for quarantine purposes in a week or so,” said an officer from Latifabad, Faraz Siddiqui, who has territorial control of the area.
Through the closure of educational institutions and a virtual lockdown of cities that began last week, the Sindh government has been able to make people stay indoors. Given the existing healthcare standards, coupled with resource constraints, the provincial government’s response to the pandemic challenge has been, by and large, satisfactory.
Only one confirmed case of coronavirus has been reported in Hyderabad so far. The victim’s first post-treatment laboratory test, fortunately, turned out to be negative.
Lab reports of a suspected patient from Tando Mohammad Khan, who was admitted to an isolation ward at Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) this week, are awaited.
“Nazla, zukam aur khansi key liye OPD-35,” reads a banner inside LUH’s outpatient department (OPD) guiding patients to the department they need to visit if they are suffering from flu, cold or cough.
Interestingly enough, there is no mention of coronavirus. Sattar Jatoi, a hospital official, had this explanation for the omission: “We avoided use of the word ‘coronavirus’ so as not to spread fear among patients.”
Health professionals categorise people in ‘red’, ‘orange’ and ‘green’ zones in accordance with their condition and activities. Those who have symptoms relating to the virus and those who have a travel history of a virus-infested region fall in the ‘red’ zone.
“Almost 95pc of people are in the ‘green’ zone. They include women, children and the elderly who usually stay home without getting in touch with anyone. But those who come in proximity with other people for one or the other reason fall in the ‘orange’ zone,” Dr Imran Ali Shaikh, a professor of medicine at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), said. “We have to bring these people from ‘orange’ to ‘green’ zone through precautionary measures.”
Sindh government has now rightly taken some measures like lockdown and this will help everyone. This is something Italy and Iran didn’t do and they paid the price. But this certainly doesn’t go down well with daily-wage earners.
What government and district administrations couldn’t handle is panic buying being witnessed since March 17. “Abhi tau baat karnay ka bhi time nahi hay,” quipped a grocery shop owner at Market Tower.
The customers gave up their choice of different brands and bought whatever was available at stores and with merchants. Some grocery outlets ran short of edibles.
Consumers thought they won’t be able to get commodities of daily use if a complete lockdown is enforced. But that wasn’t the case as grocery outlets, medical stores, dairies as well as meat and fish markets have been exempted under government’s orders.
“Since March 18 evening, situation has changed and consumers are not in haste. They have realised lockdown will not affect food supplies come what may,” adds a shopkeeper, Mohammad Zaki.
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2020