NHS ministry to expedite Covid-19 hospital in anticipation of dengue virus outbreak.

Byline: Ikram Junaidi

ISLAMABAD -- Expecting a spike in cases of the dengue virus, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has decided to expedite the construction of a dedicated facility for Covid-19 patients in Chak Shahzad.

Last year, outbreaks of the dengue virus were reported Rawalpindi and Islamabad, with more than 13,000 cases in the capital alone. Of the 10,118 cases in Punjab, almost 60pc were in Rawalpindi.

An NHS ministry official who was not authorised to speak on the record said a large number of cases could be reported in the twin cities this year, as dengue prevention efforts such as fumigation were not carried out.

'We need to take major steps or it will be impossible to avoid choking hospitals,' he said.

By constructing the new facility for Covid-19 patients, hospitals will be able to accommodate both Covid-19 and dengue patients at the same time without choking isolation centres.

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Joint Executive Director Dr Minhajus Siraj told Dawn that Medical Ward II was the first part of the hospital to be turned into a Covid-19 isolation ward.

Dedicated facility for Covid-19 patients to be completed in four to six weeks to avoid choking existing hospitals, Pims ED says

'However, soon that isolation ward - which has 30 beds - was filled and it was decided to convert the hospital's private ward into an isolation ward as well, and 50 beds were placed in that ward. We currently have 45 patients in the hospital, but dengue season has begun and we have been expecting a spike in the next four weeks, due to which a new ward will have to be established in the hospital to avoiding choking the isolation wards,' he said.

He added that dengue is not as serious of an issue as Covid-19, because the dengue virus spreads through mosquitoes while the coronavirus spreads from human to human transmission.

Dengue virus...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT