PESHAWAR: The World Health Organisation was imparting training to health workers of medical teaching institutions in Peshawar to reduce mortality due to Covid-19 as seven more people died of the virus in the provincial capital of the total 10 people passed away on Thursday, said official sources.

Peshawar has the highest Covid-19 mortality rate in the province. So far 873 people had died due to coronavirus in the medical teaching intuitions of Peshawar including Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has so far recorded 1,762 deaths and 62,719 coronavirus cases as 342 new patients tested positive during the last 24 hours, according to a report of health department.

The WHO, as part of its international drive to reduce mortalities due to Covid-19 in 22 high-risk countries including Pakistan, has started case management training in three Peshawar-based medical teaching institutions to reduce deaths of people due to the virus.

Officials say training is part of WHO drive to reduce mortalities

The training of doctors, nurses and paramedics, deployed in Covid-19 wards, high dependency units and intensive care units and triage, has been completed while the training session are in progress in Khyber Teaching Hospital that will be followed by Hayatabad Medical Complex.

“Earlier, the WHO conducted a study in the medical teaching hospital during the first phase of virus. The study shows that most of the mortalities occurred due to late arrival of the infected people to hospitals,” health officials told Dawn.

They said that most of the people, who died of coronavirus, had other illnesses and were above the age of 50. However, the world health agency was of the opinion that better management of the critical-ill patients could help them to survive, they added.

The officials said that the training was comprehensive as it covered all aspects of patient management. The WHO had developed a proper module for training of healthcare workers that had shown satisfactory results in the countries where mortality rate was higher, they added.

The officials said that at one time, 10 health workers were being trained while adhering to the precautionary measures. They said that the trained workers would provide the same training to other staffers of their hospitals.

In Peshawar, positivity rate is 10.8 per cent, which is second after Karachi’s 16.8 per cent. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 2.8 per cent case fatality rate (CFR) against the national 2.12 per cent. In Peshawar, it is 3.5 per cent. Not only deaths but the provincial capital is also tops the list of Covid-19 incidence by registering 24,960 patients.

The officials said that the training was important because most patients were admitted to Peshawar-based hospitals and they required proper management. At present, 643 Covid-19 patients are being treated in the province and more than 400 of them are in Peshawar. Of the total 43 critical patients, who are on ventilators, 42 are in Peshawar.

“More emphasis is required on infection prevention and control to stop transmission of the virus, especially to health workers, who are at high risk,” said the officials.

The training process will go on for the whole month of January and after MTIs, where the health professionals receive face-to-face sessions to enhance their case management skills, the WHO will be giving online training to the district level healthcare providers to strengthen their knowledge regarding dealing with Covid-19 patients.

“The WHO wants the hospitals to strengthen triage system and restrict entry of people without facemasks and ensure social distancing,” said the officials.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2021