PESHAWAR: The health department decided to ask private hospitals to allocate beds for Covid-19 patients for their treatment from the funds of Sehat Sahulat Programme as the province recorded 18 more deaths and 922 cases of the virus on Sunday.

“We have to involve the private hospitals in the treatment of Covid-19 patients from the funds of Sehat Sahulat Programme (SSP). The private hospitals on the panel of SSP would be made bound to allocate beds for Covid-19 patients,” health officials told Dawn.

They said that under SSP, all residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were entitled to free treatment, therefore, the private hospitals on the SSP’s panel would provide free services to the patients.

The decision was made in view of the rising number of Covid-19 patients and bed occupancy in the public sector hospitals, they added.

The health facilities will be asked to allocate beds for virus patients under Sehat Sahulat Programme

“However, we would be holding a meeting with the private hospitals, officials of SSP and State Life Insurance Corporation to ensure start of patient admissions,” said the officials.

They said that private hospitals on the panel of SSP were earning from the programme and it was their responsibility to share burden of Covid-19 patients with the government hospitals.

“We have asked the public sector hospitals to reduce the selective services and allocate more beds for coronavirus patients,” they said. A control room has been established in the health department to keep watch on the hospitals.

“If a hospital runs out of beds, then patients would be shifted to the hospitals, which have vacant beds. The ambulances of Rescue 1122 will be utilised for transportation of patients,” said officials.

Khyber Teaching Hospital has 113 patients of coronavirus, Hayatabad Medical Complex has 132 patients, Lady Reading Hospital has 168 patients and Covid-19 Hospital Nishartabad has 42 patients while 56 patients are hospitalised in Saidu Group of Teaching Hospitals, Swat.

Officials said that they had also planned to expand the scope of lockdown as the mini-lockdown failed to make any impact on lowering down the Covid-19 positivity level.

They said that in a meeting of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), all the provinces were directed to go for bigger lockdowns instead of smart ones.

The main focus is now on adherence to the standard operating procedure through the respective district administrations.

“So far, we have vaccinated 25,000 people above 60 years. Vaccination of people above 50 years will commence on March 30.

The first dose of Covid-19 vaccination has been administered to 36,000 frontline health workers and the second dose to 20,500 so far,” said officials.

The health department has established 280 vaccination centres throughout the province where people are registered and vaccinated free of cost.

Officials said that overall positivity in the province was about 10 per cent while it was more than 24 per cent in Peshawar and Swat.

During the last 24 hours, five mortalities were recorded in Peshawar; three each in Haripur and Kohat; two each in Swabi and Swat; and one each in Buner, Abbottabad and Bajaur, according to a report issued by health department.

It said that Peshawar detected 330 new cases of coronavirus, Swabi 104, Nowshera 57, Dir Lower 54, Swat 52, Haripur 36 and Buner, Mansehra and Abbottabad reported 30 cases each.

The province’s tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 85,531 and mortalities at 2,301.

There are a total of 8,408 active cases of coronavirus in the province while 74,822 patients have recovered.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2021