PESHAWAR: Of the total province-wide deaths due to Covid-19, 84 per cent occurred at the three medical teaching institutions in Peshawar, mostly due to non-availability of intensive care specialists, co-morbidities, older ages and late hospitalisation of the infected people.

On Sunday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded 245 deaths including 149 residents of Peshawar, which constituted 61 per cent of total fatalities while 205 among these deaths occurred in Peshawar hospitals.

Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) has recorded 128 deaths, Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) 53 and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) has reported 24 deaths due to Covid-19.

The province has also recorded 1,126 recoveries, 20 per cent of the total in the country, including 92 in Peshawar, which has 1,891 of the total 4,669 confirmed cases.

1,126 patients have so far recovered in KP

Physicians in the city’s hospitals attribute the high mortality rate in Peshawar hospitals to co-morbidities, higher age, late arrival of patients and lack of specialised ICU care.

They say that they have been following the guidelines of Covid-19 Clinical Management Group (CCMG) but additional factors cause more deaths. The CCMG, notified by health department on March 24, include Prof Muhammad Noor Wazir of HMC, Prof Khalid Mahmood LRH, Prof Sadia Ashraf KTH and others. It has issued protocols for taking samples, isolation and quarantines centres and management of the patients.

“We strictly adhere to the same guidelines. Out of the 24 expiries at KTH, two were received dead while 95 per cent were co-morbid, having heart, renal and other ailments and 155 have recovered,” Dr Saud Islam at KTH told Dawn.

LRH, which receives bulk of the Covid-19, has also recorded 128 deaths due to the virus, 80 per cent of them were above 61 years and 82 per cent were co-morbid.

LRH, which has shut its door for elective and OPD services for general patients, has totally focused on Covid-19 patients but also suffers from shortage of faculty in general medicine department.

“The issue can possibly be a reason for hampering the care of virus-hit patients to a desired level,” physicians said.

They said that of the four medical units, three did not have professors at the moment. “One unit does not have associate professor and posts of senior and junior registrars have been abolished due to Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015,” they said.

LRH director Dr Khalid Masud, however, said that they had successfully treated 600 patients so far. He said that the healed people were sent home.

“We have dedicated 250-bed building, 80-bed ICU and as many beds high dependency ward for Covid-19 where 306 health professionals have been deployed to ensure round-the-clock services,” he added.

He said that 30 ventilators were provided only for coronavirus patients but most of the patients were transported there from all the districts of the province that deteriorated their condition on the way.

HMC medical director Prof Shehzad Akbar Khan told Dawn that they had admitted 263 patients so far, of whom 53 died and 87 others fully recovered.

“Presently 63 patients are under-treatment. They receive treatment at the highly specialised wards under the consultant. We have corona combat teams to ensure the best possible management of the patients,” he said.

Prof Shehzad said that they were not only providing treatment to patients but were conducting Covid-19 tests free of cost.

Experts said that there was acute shortage of ICU specialists all over the country that affected treatment of critically-ill patients. The ICUs were run by anaesthetists in the absence of intensivists and they were not qualified to give proper care to serous patients.

Additionally, deficient faculty members and pulmonologist may also be an important reason for increased mortality in KP.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2020