LANDI KOTAL: The health department has intensified screening of people at Torkham as precautionary measures against Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) because neighbouring Afghanistan has recorded one case of the disease from its Herat province located near the Iran border.

“Since early February, we have screened over 200,000 people crossing the border. We have designated six-bed Pak-Afghan Dosti Hospital for the purpose,” Dr Tariq Hayat, district health officer, told Dawn.

He said that the hospital was inaugurated by prime minister last year to cater to healthcare needs of people crossing the border. “Area has also been specified to quarantine suspected patients and strictly monitor the crossing for people with symptoms of virus, especially those with travel history to endemic countries to ensure that the people stay safe from the infection,” he said.

The DHO said that 15-bed wards, established in Landi Kotal and Jamrud tehsils, had been designated to hospitalise the patients in isolation but so far no case was reported.

Dr Tariq said that Central Health Establishment, Islamabad ran a programme for communicable diseases on the border in collaboration district health and diverted all the attention towards preventive measures after circulation of the virus in Afghanistan and Iran.

DHO says preventive measures enhanced after case detection in Afghanistan

“We are well-equipped to assess the medical conditions of people. We have deployed 15 health personnel along with ambulance to ensure prompt services in case of serious patients,” he said.

The deputy commissioner’s office in a statement said that thermal scanning guns been installed as part of preventive step after reports about infection in some parts of Afghanistan.

Officials at the border said that 10,000 to 12,000 people travelled between Pakistan and Afghanistan on daily basis.

They said that no one was detected so far carrying any sign of contracting coronavirus during the scanning process.

In Miramshah, DHO Dr Hameedullah Khan told journalists that people were screened at Pak-Afghan border Ghulam Khan for signs of the disease. A team of doctors was deployed at the border to screen people round the clock, he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Tahir Nadeem Khan, the director general health services, has asked the DHOs and medical superintendents in all districts not to leave their duty place as the government has imposed emergency in view of the virus, which had infected over 80,000 people worldwide, mostly in neighbouring China.

He said that the province tested 16 suspected patients and all of them were negative.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2020