MULTAN: Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid visited the town on Tuesday after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed concerns over ‘poor facilities’ for doctors and paramedics handling coronavirus patients in his native area and some other regions of south Punjab.

Speaking to the media here on Saturday last, Qureshi had said that at a time when Multan was hosting a large number of pilgrims coming from Iran, adequate protective gear and other equipment were not made available.

Yasmin Rashid, who spoke to the Nishtar Medical University academic council during her visit to the Nishtar Hospital and talked to media later, said all required protective material was available in Nishtar.

“There are 35 ventilators in the Recep Tayyip Erdogon Hospital, Muzaffargarh, which are being operated by the doctors of Nishtar and no ventilator has been shifted from the Nishtar Hospital to any other place,” she said.

YDA disputes claim

She further claimed that N-95 masks had been provided to all the doctors of the Nishtar Hospital. “Initially, the personal protective equipment was provided in the Recep Tayyip Erdogon Hospital but now it is available in Nishtar as well.”

She said Nishtar had required protective material for next 15 days and 2,082 testing kits.

She claimed that Pakistan was conducting more tests on a daily basis as compared to India while arrangements to accommodate more than 4,000 patients in Punjab had been made.

“We are conducting tests of only those people who have foreign travel history or have any symptoms. The doctors associated with the Pakistan Medical Association and Young Doctors Association are employees of hospitals and the NMU VC has to resolve their issues for which he has complete trust of the provincial government. It is a challenging time for Pakistan and refusal to perform duties by the doctors is not an appreciable act,” she said.

Young Doctors Association (Reformers) spokesman Dr Saeed Ahmed Chaudhry said that when Shah Mehmood Qureshi contacted Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar he (Asad Umar) shared the details of the protective material provided by the government to the Nishtar Hospital but Mr Qureshi was not satisfied.

Dr Chaudhry said during her visit to the Nishtar Hospital on Tuesday, the health minister had expressed her displeasure with the Nishtar administration for not correcting Mr Qureshi during his press conference in their presence.

He said there was also no reality in the claim of the health minister that required personal protective equipment and N-95 masks had been provided to all the doctors of the hospital.

Zain Hussain Qureshi, federal parliamentary secretary and son of Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said that the visit of the health minister to Multan was appreciable following the identification of issues by Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

“Now she has visited the city, we should wait for the provision of protective material to all doctors,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2020