“Saudi Ministry of health gave awards to two Pakistani doctors and health professionals in recognition of 100 days of their services in fighting against the virus.One Doctor belongs to Layyah a city of South Punjab and other belongs to North Waziristan, a tribal belt of NWFP.Both have set a record of serving the humanity round the clock
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry presented a leadership award and appreciation certificate to a Pakistani doctor, Shahzad Ahmad Mumtaz, on the kingdom’s national day in recognition of his services as a COVID-19 team leader in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
“In recognition of my services as head of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the King Salman Hospital, I was given leadership award and appreciation certificate by the Saudi health ministry,” Mumtaz told Arab News over telephone from Riyadh on Saturday, adding that he was awarded in a ceremony organized by the hospital on September 23.Hailing from Layyah, a small city in southern Punjab, Mumtaz has been working in Saudi Arabia for the last 18 years. Before his appointment at the King Salman Hospital, he worked as a director at the King Saud Medical City. He also served as an ICU head at Al-Noor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, and Jabal Al-Rahmah Hospital, Arafat.
“At the outset of the pandemic, the COVID-19 mortality rate was very high at the King Salman Hospital. That is the reason why I was brought here as the ICU head to increase the hospital’s capacity to deal with the challenge posed by the pandemic,” he said.
Mumtaz informed that he succeeded in bringing down these deaths by 10 percent during the last five months with better team management and greater use of modern techniques and technology.
“The mortality rate related to COVID-19 in international ICUs is around 30 percent since very critical patients are shifted to these units. The ICU at the King Salman Hospital has remained under 10 percent during the last five months,” he said.“During all this time, I have not taken a single leave and worked for 18-20 hours a day,” he continued.
“After joining, I immediately extended the ICU from 14 to 60 beds. We used the helmet technology that is mostly preferred in Spain and Continuous Positive Airway Pressure which is recommended by Americans. The two things produced impressive results in our hospital during the pandemic,” he said.
Mumtaz informed that the King Salman Hospital was converted into a non-COVID, green hospital on September 1.
“We received a lot of appreciation from the Saudi health ministry,” he added. “It helped in the surgical treatment of general patients which was stopped due to the influx of COVID-19 patients.”
The kingdom recorded a significant drop in COVID-19 cases and related deaths in the last few days. The total number of recoveries in Saudi Arabia increased to 315,636 after 843 more patients recently recovered from the virus.
Meanwhile, 4,625 people have also succumbed to the virus in the Kingdom so far.
Similarly ,Saudi Arabia’s ministry of health last week awarded Pakistan doctor Zia Ullah Khan Dawar with a medal to recognize his work as one of the “captains” of the Kingdom’s COVID-19 team, Dawar said on(July 13) Monday. Dawar, a public health specialist, has been living in Saudi Arabia for the past four years, working on programs to stem tuberculosis, dengue fever and malaria. He is currently working with the kingdom’s health ministry in Jeddah as part of a COVID-19 surveillance and data analysis team.
“We were working in a mobile team which is a challenging and risky job,” Dawar added. “Whenever any positive case was reported, we immediately had to go to the site and do the needful.”
Saudi Arabia has recorded over 232,000 COVID-19 cases since March while 2,223 have died of the virus. “Saudi Ministry of health gave awards Pakistani doctor and health professionals in recognition of 100 days of their services in fighting against the virus and I am one of the foreign doctors [awarded],” Dawar told Arab News. “I am feeling so proud to get the recognition of my services. I come from North Waziristan [a northwestern region in Pakistan], so it is not only an honor for me but for my area and for Pakistan.”
