PESHAWAR: Eight more people died of coronavirus on Wednesday making the overall number of fatalities due to the pandemic 275 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Four deaths occurred in Peshawar, two in Nowshera and one each in Khyber and Lower Dir districts, according to daily situation Covid-19 update of the health department.

The province also recorded 231 new confirmed cases taking the province-wide tally of positive patients to 5,252.

The number of patients healed from the infectious sickness reached 1,392 with 87 new recovered persons.

As Peshawar continues to lead the death toll and case count in the province, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is yet to appoint a permanent district health officer (DHO) for Peshawar, which has recorded a total 164 deaths of the total 275 in the province.

Peshawar without permanent DHO despite recording highest number of deaths and cases

The number of cases in Peshawar reached 2,087 with 112 new cases reported during the last 24 hours, according to the report.

The case fatality rate (CFR) in KP was 5.23 per cent as compared to Tuesday’s 5.31 per cent, the highest in the country.

CFR in Peshawar was 7.85 per cent as compared to Tuesday’s 8.10 per cent, the most in any city of the country.

Peshawar has contributed 50 per cent to the deaths occurred in the province during the last 24 hours.

It means the situation is dismal in KP in general and in Peshawar in particular.

The former DHO, Dr Ghulam Subkhani, retired from service six months ago but the post is being held by Dr Mohammad Siraj on acting basis because he is the permanent medical superintendent of Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital.

Sources said that there were six BPS-20 doctors in administrative cadres, who had been sitting idle, but the government was yet to fill the post of Peshawar DHO, which assumed great significance in view of the Covid-19 deaths as well as cases.

In the process, the capital city is becoming Wuhan of Pakistan where the virus has been infecting people at an alarming speed.

Sources said that Peshawar district, which housed most of the quarantine centres, required a fulltime DHO to improve the situation.

They said that not only the post of DHO was being run on ad hoc basis, situation at the offices of director-general health services was no different where a junior doctor in BPS-17 was heading the coronavirus cell while senior doctors in BPS-20 and 19 were working under him.

Director-General Health Dr Tahir Nadim Khan told Dawn that very soon a permanent DHO would be appointed in Peshawar.

Peshawar has become epicenter of the virus. Besides it, Swat has recorded 386 cases and 22 deaths; Mardan 280 cases and 19 deaths; Malakand 260 cases and seven deaths; Dir Lower 147 cases and six deaths; Nowshera 127 cases and nine deaths; Abbottabad 105 cases and six deaths; and Mansehra has recorded 105 cases and five deaths.

Our correspondent from Swabi adds: Another patient of coronavirus died at Bacha Khan Hospital Complex Shahmansoor here on Wednesday.

The deceased was was admitted to Bacha Khan Hospital a few days ago.

He was hailing from Dagai village in Razaar tehsil. A team of TMA offered his funeral prayer under the SOPs at his ancestral graveyard in Dagai.

The total number of fatalities in the district has reached nine and number of total positive cases reached 77.

Our correspondent from Charsadda adds: Two more coronavirus patients died in Peshawar hospitals were buried in their native town in Charsadda under SOPs on Wednesday.

One of the deceased died at CMH Peshawar while the other breathed her last at Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. Both were buried at their native graveyards in Charsadda on Wednesday.

Our correspondent from Buner adds: A lady constable and four other policemen tested positive for coronavirus in the district.

The tests of 34 police personnel were conducted and five of them were declared positive. According to officials, tests of 128 more policemen would be conducted.

The police personnel had performed duty at isolation wards, quarantine centrers and emergency wards of hospitals.

Isolation and quarantine centres were set up in police lines for the infected personnel.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2020