KARACHI: Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Friday asked the Sindh government to establish a central helpline so that people could know about capacity in hospitals and bed and ventilators’ availability.

Addressing a meeting to oversee measures to combat coronavirus at hospitals under administrative control of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation here, he said patients and their family members should be informed about available beds and ventilators at the helpline round the clock.

He said patients and their family members faced hardships in finding space in many hospitals. “The patients who need urgent treatment are being asked to go to find beds in other hospitals,” he added.

He said that helpline was the need of the hour for coordination between all hospitals treating Covid-19 patients.

The mayor claimed that there was no mechanism to deal with coronavirus pandemic as the provincial government did not establish any helpline for patients.

‘Patients who need urgent treatment are being asked to find beds in other hospitals’

He said that patients visited filter clinics established by the KMC and they were asked to get admitted to hospitals, but they were not being guided at the government level.

People urged to adopt safety measures

He also expressed severe concern over surge in number of coronavirus patients and appealed to the people to adopt precautionary measures or else the fatal virus may affect large number of people.

Akhtar said that the situation was getting worst after the shopping malls, markets and public transport were reopened. “Now the number of patients exceeded affected people in China,” he added.

The mayor said that more people tested positive for Covid-19, yet the people were not taking it serious.

He said that the situation was worst in interior parts of the province. “Patients are dying across the country but the people are still unwilling to adopt precautionary measures,” he added.

Akhtar said that traders had assured him to follow standard operating procedures before opening of markets, but unfortunately it did not happen. He said that the people were ignoring SOPs in public transport as well.

He said that hospitals in Karachi were out of space and if the situation continued, hospitals would not be able to treat further patients.

The mayor paid tribute to doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health workers combating from the front by putting their own lives at stake as several health workers had laid down their lives in the line of duty.

He said that isolation centres were established at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Cardiac Emergency Centre in Landhi and the Covid-19 patients could be treated free-of-cost here if the Sindh government provided essential kits.

The mayor said that the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital was the second largest hospital in Karachi and had infrastructure, experts and doctors and could cover large number of citizens.

“But the hospital could not treat Covid-19 patients due to shortage of funds,” he added.

He, however, said that the people were being guided at filter clinics established by the KMC.

The mayor said that doctors, paramedics and other health workers were provided personal protection equipment with the help of different NGOs.

He once again appealed to the people to adopt all preventive measures, including wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing, so that the virus does not spread. “Those who are tested positive should isolate themselves,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2020