ISLAMABAD: With the number of coronavirus cases and deaths increasing day by day across the country, the government on Friday announced a comprehensive support package for frontline healthcare workers (HCWs).

The country reported 5,689 Covid-19 cases and 86 deaths during the past 24 hours, taking the national tally of cases to 129,182 and fatalities to 2,495. A record number of 28,344 Covid-19 tests were conducted across the country in a single day.

The support package has been announced following a hue and cry raised by health professionals as hundreds of HCWs have been infected with the deadly virus and several have sacrificed their lives.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said during a media talk that there were seven areas of the package, including fina­ncial, training, healthcare and recognition at the national level.

He said there would be tax exemption for the front line health workers and a Shuhada package from Rs3 million to Rs10m would be offered to all HCWs who had and would sacrifice their lives in the fight against Covid-19.

Dr Mirza said that a number of incidents of violence had taken place in healthcare facilities and, therefore, arrangements would be made to provide security to the HCWs treating Covid-19 patients.

“Adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), including N-95 masks, will be provided to all frontline healthcare workers. Pakis­tan Electro­nic Media Regu­latory Authority and other stakeholders will lay down a code of conduct for print/electronic media to restrain them from character assassination of HCWs,” he added.

The SAPM said that training of frontline HCWs in critical care management of Covid-19 was imperative and, therefore, staff of both public and private hospitals would be trained. He said National Helpline 1166 was being configured to address concerns of all HCWs on a fast track basis.

“Moreover, it has been decided that when needed, testing of HCWs will be prioritised and provision of specialised medicines for treatment of all infected HCWs will be ensured. Families of healthcare workers will be treated [free of cost] in hospitals on panel,” he added.

Dr Mirza said interest-free loans would be offered to private hospitals to ensure payment of salaries to their employees, adding that special tax exemptions would be given for import of equipment and accessories required for establishment of critical care facilities. Moreover, he said, the HCWs would be recognised and awards would be announced for them on National Days.

Meanwhile, according to data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), there was no patient on ventilators in Azad Kashmir and Balochistan on Friday. A total of 25,610 beds have been allocated for Covid-19 patients across the country, including 5,954 with oxygen facility.

Out of 1,400 ventilators allocated for Covid-19 patients across the country, 375 were occupied on Friday.

As many as 25 portable ventilators were dispatched to Karachi by the National Disaster Management Authority on Thursday.

Meanwhile, more than 11,231 violations of health guidelines/instructions were observed across the country on Friday due to which 1,325 markets/shops and 17 industries were sealed and 1,437 impounded, besides imposition of fines.

According to the NCOC, 1,279 smart lockdowns were enforced in different parts of the country under the tracing, testing and quarantine (TTQ) mechanism.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2020