PESHAWAR: The health department has ordered the resumption of normal operations at the Police Services Hospital, Peshawar, which was declared to coronavirus patients in March.

The hospital will no more admit Covid-19 patients.

The development comes in line of a sharp decline in coronavirus incidence in the province.

The 60-bed hospital was made a Covid-19 facility after the province was hit by the virus outbreak. However, it has reopened its doors to non-coronavirus patients.

Director-General (Health Services) Dr Niaz Mohammad told Dawn that the hospital was notified as the dedicated facility for investigating and managing suspected Covid-19 patients but as the pandemic-related situation had improved, the department had allowed the resumption of normal operations there.

“During the holidays of Eidul Azha, we chlorinated the hospital for the safety of visitors,” he said.

Health dept asks Peshawar hospital to resume normal operations

The DG said the people requiring normal treatment would be admitted to the Institute of Hepatology, which was converted into Covid-19 facility a month ago.

He said the 50-bed facility had yet to receive any coronavirus patient despite having all facilities, medicines and medical supplies at its disposal.

According to him, the Police Services Hospital used to serve as the main facility to provide isolation to the suspected non-critical Covid-19 patients, while the critical ones were referred to the medical teaching institutions, where all required facilities were available.

“It [hospital] will be used as sentinel sites for taking swabs from suspected patients like other general hospitals but there will be no Covid-19 admission or isolation services.

“The same modus operandi will continue and the non-critical patients will be sent to the Institute of Hepatology. The Police Services Hospital will continue to serve as the sentimental site for testing of suspected patients,” he said.

The DG said the people with kidney, lung, heart and other problems would be sent to the medical teaching institutions.

He said the Institute of Hepatology, where ICU and HDU facilities were available, could be used for normal patients requiring isolation or quarantine but there would be coordination with medical teaching intuitions for specialised care needed by patients.

Dr Niaz said the government had also allowed the reopening of outpatient departments and selective surgeries in hospitals after they were closed for non-coronavirus patients in March due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

He said the hospitals had established special counters, where the people with respiratory problems were subjected to coronavirus tests.

The DG said Covid-19 tests had been made mandatory for the people needing surgeries in hospitals to know the prevalence of the virus.

Meanwhile, officials said the Institute of Hepatology and Peshawar Institute of Cardiology were converted into Covid-19 facility with a total of 100 beds but both remained unused.

They said the two buildings were put up two years ago but couldn’t be used due to lack of facilities.

The officials said the Covid-19 pandemic helped the health department put in place beds and other facilities including medical supplies for virus patients.

They said as the province had recorded a rapid decline in coronavirus incidence, the health department was considering to begin the services of hepatology and cardiology at both institutes.

The officials said the department would wait until the end of Sept when educational institutions were to reopen and if the situation with regard to Covid-19 incidence remained satisfactory, both institutes would be opened to patients.

“As of today, the province has only 50 admitted patients of coronavirus and only 10 of them were critical ones and were on ventilator,” an official told Dawn.

He said the Covid-19 admissions were fast declining but the department was waiting to have a clear picture of the virus incidence.

“The government cannot take risk and is waiting for the virus to vanish completely,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2020