PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has inaugurated the first Covid-19 hospital to provide specialised treatment facilities to the patients affected by coronavirus in the province.

“The 58-bed hospital, to be enhanced to 110 beds in a month, has 37 isolation beds, 16 high dependency beds and five intestine care beds. It has three specialists, 16 medical officers, 24 nurses, 37 technicians and 50 support staff,” the chief minister told the inaugural ceremony here on Thursday.

He said that efforts were afoot to operationalise another 210-bed Covid-19 hospital in the city soon. He said that the province had fragile mechanism to cope with the Covid-19 patients when the pandemic broke out but due to hard work by the provincial government, overall capacity of public sector hospitals was scaled up considerably due to which the infected people were getting better services.

The chief minister said that a well-devised plan had been drawn to further strengthen the capacity of the hospitals and improve the diagnostic and treatment services to the people hit by the virus.

The new facility has been set up as a model based on global guidelines. It is equipped with ventilators, monitors, oxygen, necessary machines, infusion pumps and other equipments to manage hypoxemic respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock and other complications resulting from Covid-19.

Opens 58-bed Covid-19 hospital that will get 52 more beds in a month

The chief minister termed establishment of the hospital a milestone achievement of the government. He said that it would reduce burden of Covid-19 patients on the tertiary care hospitals of the provincial metropolis.

He appreciated the International Rescue Committee, Medical Emergency Resilience Foundation and other partner organisations for their assistance in establishing the hospital.

Meanwhile, the chief minister paid a short visit to Chakdara on Thursday and formally inaugurated Malik Ahmad Baba Ala Dhand Dheri (Chakdara) Interchange on Swat Motorway.

The interchange has been completed and opened to traffic recently.

On this occasion, the chief minister was given a detailed briefing about the progress made so far on completion of first phase of Swat Motorway and its formal opening to traffic.

He was informed that work on first phase of Swat Motorway was in final stages and it would be opened to traffic by September this year.

The high ups of Frontier Works Organisation, Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority, communication and works department and officials of administration were present on the occasion.

Mahmood Khan was also briefed about the progress on starting work on second phase of Swat Motorway.

Talking on this occasion, the chief minister said that the under-construction Swat Motorway project was of high importance for the entire Malakand division.

He said that after completion, the project would not only boost business and tourism activities in the region but would also provide quality transport facilities to people.

Mr Khan directed the quarters concerned to complete all the prerequisites to start physical work on second phase of Swat Motorway.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2020