LAHORE: The Punjab Corona Experts Advisory Group (CEAG) has recommended home isolation for certain confirmed patients of coronavirus, fearing that in the coming days the province may run short of government hospitals due to a rise in the number of Covid-19 patients.

The experts maintained that people with both mild and severe symptoms of the virus were flooding government sector hospitals and quarantine centres in Punjab. The burden on health facilities would not only risk the lives of health professionals, but also create a new health crisis.

“In order to combat any future shortage of hospitals and staff, we will have to enforce home isolation policy in Punjab on emergency basis,” co-convener of CEAG, Prof Mahmood Shaukat, told Dawn.

He said the CEAG had sent its recommendations to the Punjab government through the health department for final consideration.

“We are asking the health authorities from day one to go for home isolation of Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms or those who can afford to stay at home,” said Dr Shaukat, who is also a former vice chancellor of the University of Health Sciences.

CEAG has sent recommendations to CM for consideration

He said the virus was spreading fast and hospitals and quarantine centres were running out of space due to increasing number of patients.

“We are not recommending home isolation for those living in one- or two-room houses with limited facilities of washroom for all members of the family,” he further said.

The recent surge in confirmed cases also raised alarms, as Punjab reported 2,121 new cases of Covid-19 in the last seven days. This number was approximately 50 per cent more than that reported between April 20 and 27, which was 1,141.

The health department also endorsed the opinion, saying the number of patients was increasing enormously.

“We add about 500 new patients into our hospital system every day,” a spokesperson for the specialised healthcare department said. He said the number of patients on ventilators was also rising daily.

“Our extended capacity at quarantine centres is about to run out,” he added.

He said presently, 227 doctors, 522 nurses, 28 lab staff, 54 paramedics and 260 other employees were discharging coronavirus duties in field hospitals. These numbers would increase in case more patients visited the health facilities.

Mayo Hospital Lahore Chief Executive Prof Asad Aslam, who is supervising the Expo Centre and Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) besides his own hospital, said all three health facilities were almost full.

“A couple of days back, all the Covid-19 wards in Mayo Hospital ran short of beds and we referred four patients to PKLI,” he claimed.

But, the PKLI was also unable to accommodate the patients because their 100-bed isolation wards were already packed, Dr Aslam said. The situation was similar at Expo Centre.

Meanwhile, a senior health officer said the health department had called a crucial meeting on Tuesday (today) to take a final decision on the home isolation policy before sending the same to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for final consideration.

He said the CEAG would also participate in the meeting besides senior command of the health department.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2020