Punjab to increase vaccination to fight Covid spread

LAHORE: Punjab health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Sunday said the province had made a commitment to the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) to increase its vaccination dispensation to around 35,000 over-50-year old people in the province to control exponential increase in the coronavirus infectivity rate.

Speaking at a news conference at the chief minister’s secretariat here, she said oxygen availability in Punjab’s hospitals was satisfactory and the industries department had been asked to divert its oxygen share to the health department to ensure ample supply for the Covid patients.

In order to have ample oxygen stock, the minister said the health department had also suspended elective surgeries in the public hospitals of the province.

Dr Rashid took strong exception to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zaradri’s criticism of the federal and Punjab governments’ measures against the pandemic at a time when the nation was passing through a critical phase. “When Prime Minister Imran Khan is offering medical suppliesto India, is it a time to do politics without looking into the performance of Sindh [government] ,” she chided Mr Bhutto-Zardari.

‘Industries dept oxygen share being diverted to health dept’

She said when Sindh was allocated more vaccine than Punjab for its frontline healthcare workers’ vaccination at an NCOC meeting, she did not object because the PPP-run province had a higher coronavirus infectivity rate. “Now, I am saying on record that Sindh has yet not consumed its vaccine share and the criticism [by Bilawal] at this time is beyond comprehension”,she said and added that Sindh could itself procure the vaccine for its population, “no one is stopping them.”

The pandemic had shattered the whole world and it was high time that all stakeholders, including political parties, should join hands to overcome it and ease people’s health problems, she suggested.

In the wake of resurgence of coronavirus infections in Punjab, the provincial government has requisitioned the federal government for troops of Pakistan Army and Rangers to help the civil administration and police to strictly implement the NCOC guidelines and SOPs from April 27 (tomorrow) to May 11.

The minister said the coronavirus infectivity rate in Punjab had touched 12 percent on average during the past three days, while 16 districts of the province recorded over 8pc infection rate just because people were not wearing facemasks and taking other precautions like social distancing against the virus.

She said the coronavirus positivity rate had touched 27pc in Faisalabad, 23pc in Multan and 20pc in Lahore on Sunday.On average, during the past three days, the positivity rate was 19pc in Lahore, 18pc in Rahim Yar Khan, 16pc each in Faisalabad, Bhakkar and Multan, 15pc in Okara, 14pc in Bahawalpur, 13pc in Gujranwala and Kasur, 10pc each in Pakpattan, Jhang, Sargodha and Rawalpindi, 9pc in Sheikhupura and 8pc in Toba Tek Singh and Gujrat.

Regretting that the burden on hospitals was increasing, she said 89pc of ventilators were occupied in Lahore, 88pc in Gujranwala, 85pc in Multan, 38 per cent in Rawalpindi, 32pc in Bahawalpur, 20pc in Faisalabad, 17pc in Gujrat and 0.4pc in Jhelum.

She said with increase in the disease burden the health department expanded its capacity and made available 200 more ventilators, adding 23 additional ventilators were being installed in Lahore’s hospitals. She said 92pc high dependency units (HDUs), 64pc ventilators and 5,000 oxygen cylinders were added to the Punjab healthcare system so far.

At present, she said, there were 874 coronavirus patients in the21 public sector hospitals and 466 others in 36 private facilities in Lahore. She regretted that 28 Covid patients died during the past 24 hours in the city.

She said the Punjab government had so far vaccinated 934,170 senior citizens, including 34,706 during the past 24 hours. She said some 1,600 senior citizens had been vaccinated at their homes and now the facility had also been extended to the people above 60 years with disabilities.

The minister said special buses would also ply on the city roads from next Wednesday for those having no conveyance to reach the vaccination centres.

In order to create further ease for the residents of Lahore, she said two more vaccination centres would be established in the city, taking their number to six. She said portals had also been opened in the public hospitals, allowing the frontline health workers to get registered for vaccination.

Answering a question, Dr Rashid said the Punjab health department was collaborating with the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences to develop indigenous coronavirus vaccine.

Specialized healthcare and medical education department Secretary Nabeel Awan said the department would immediately investigate reports of black-marketing of oxygen cylinders and check the hoarding if any.

He said Mozang Hospital medical superintendent had been suspended and was being proceeded against under PEEDA Act on the charges of wasting vaccine, while a summary had been sent to the chief minister for action against the Services Hospital for misuse of vaccine. He added that action would also be taken against the Jinnah hospital’s medical superintendent.