QUETTA: The Balo­chistan government has announced opening of all provincial and divisional departments and outdoor patients departments (OPDs) at all government-run hospitals in the province from Monday (today).

According to an official announcement on Sunday, all government employees have been asked to attend their offices from Monday with strict observance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the provincial government.

The Balo­chistan government had closed all provincial and divisional departments, except a few important ones, in March this year after cases of Covid-19 started appearing in the province.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost all government and private hospitals were also closed, except Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Hospital and Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital, which were tasked with handling the coronavirus patients only.

Employees asked to attend their offices with strict observance of SOPs

All OPDs of government-run hospitals in Quetta and 32 other districts have also opened.

“We opened all OPDs on Saturday and would formally start functioning from Monday,” Balochistan Health Secretary Mir Dostain Khan Jamaldani told Dawn on Sunday.

All doctors of government hospitals have been asked to strictly ensure their presence to facilitate outdoor patients.

All private hospitals were allowed functioning two days ago with an instruction to strictly ensure observance of all SOPs.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2020