At least 220 coronavirus hit people have died in Pakistan and infectees swelled to 10,503 of then 7418 are active cases while 2156 people recovered. According to National Command and Operation Centre, 4,590 cases have so far been detected in Punjab, 3,373 in Sindh, 1,345 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 495 in Balochistan, 283 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 185 in Islamabad Capital Territory and 51 in Azad Kashmir.Over 2.5807 million infected globally; As many as 178,371 dead, over 647,000 recovered
The Center said that 2,112 patients have so far recovered while the death toll from the virus stands at 209 with 16 new deaths reported during the last twenty four hours. 796 new cases were reported during the last 24 hours.
Chief Executive Officer Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Dr Saqib Shafi, on Tuesday confirmed that several doctors and other medical staffers from the facility had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The hospital's chief executive said that over 400 of the facility's staff had been screened for the virus.
The infected include six doctors, 10 nurses, and seven staff members, Dr Shafi said, adding that they exhibited no symptoms of the virus.
Surgeon Prof Aftab Younas, a faculty member of the PIC and the first medic of the hospital to contract the virus, was discharged on Saturday after testing negative, according to The News.
Dr Shafi said that the hospital administration had shut down the operation theatre for four days after Prof Younas had tested positive and that after disinfecting it operations have resumed.
The incidents of doctors, who have been battling on the frontline without guarantee of adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), catching the virus are on the rise.
At least two doctors, one each from Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan, have lost their lives after contracting coronavirus.
Dr Usama Riaz, from GB, was part of a 10-member team of the doctors tasked with screening patients returning from other towns, particularly those arriving there from Iran via Taftan. He later started providing services to the suspected patients in isolation centres established for them in Gilgit.
Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro, from Sindh, contracted coronavirus while treating his patients in the Gulshan-e-Hadeed locality of Karachi, and when his condition deteriorated, he approached the Indus Hospital in Karachi where he tested positive for the viral ailment and was admitted to the isolation ward.
Meanwhile, the country has reported over 9,500 COVID-19 cases with over 200 deaths.
At the time of this report, Punjab had reported 4,195 cases, Sindh 3,053, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1,276, Balochistan 465, Islamabad 185, Gilgit-Baltistan 281, and AJK 50.
The tragic death of Dr Osama Riaz, a young physician from Gilgit-Baltistan who had been tasked with screening pilgrims from Iran for COVID-19, on March 22 came as shocking news and set the alarm bells ringing for the health fraternity, especially young doctors and healthcare providers in Pakistan. However, neither the federal nor the provincial governments took the issue seriously.
In fact, they failed to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and proper training to healthcare workers, resulting in the death of two doctors and a nurse, and causing another 200 healthcare providers to become infected all over the country.
Despite cries for help and calls for providing PPE, a full protective armour, to all healthcare providers, the closure of OPDs till the establishment of proper standard operating procedures (SOPs) and reducing the number of patients at the health facilities, no heed was paid towards the safety of healthcare providers until another doctor, a renowned physician in Karachi Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro, contracted the coronavirus and was taken to Indus Hospital towards the end of March. He died on April 6 after remaining on life support for several days in the intensive care unit of the health facility.
“Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro was a skin specialist, who most probably contracted the COVID-19 from one of his patients as none of his family members had tested positive for the disease. Despite being aware of the dangers to his life, he continued examining and treating patients, majority of whom were poor people from rural areas. As a kind-hearted man, Dr Soomro continued treating patients by wearing a simple surgical mask as complete PPE was not available even at the tertiary-care hospitals in those days,” said Dr Zafar Iqbal, a close friend of the deceased doctor.
The demise of Dr Soomro shocked the healthcare providers across the country, and not only did calls for the provision of PPE increased but a large number of doctors and paramedics also decided to stay away from their health facilities, fearing that they could also contract the disease from patients and end up dying like Dr Soomro. But there were still hundreds of doctors, nurses and paramedics who were “very much willing” to serve at the health facilities as the number of COVID-19 patients started rising.
Their determination was lauded by all, but another healthcare provider died, this time a nurse at the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital in Gujrat who had been assisting doctors in treating dozens of patients in the district.
Even after the deaths of three healthcare providers in Gilgit- Baltistan, Sindh and Punjab, with several others on life support, including a senior ENT professor in Peshawar, nobody exactly knows how many healthcare providers have become infected with COVID-19 in the country.
Ailing healthcare providers
Federal health authorities claim that till Tuesday, April 21, 2020, as many as 232 healthcare providers – including 114 doctors, 39 nurses and 78 paramedics and supporting staffers— had tested positive for COVID-19 in Pakistan. Of them, two are in critical condition and on life support, one each in Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab.
According to authorities, Punjab is the worst affected province where around 83 healthcare providers – including 53 doctors, 12 nurses and 18 paramedics and other staff—have tested positive for coronavirus.
In Sindh, 56 healthcare providers – including 19 doctors, 15 nurses and 22 paramedics and other staffers—have been affected by the virus.
The situation is not much different in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where as many as 29 healthcare providers -- 14 doctors, 7 nurses and 8 others including paramedics—have tested positive, while in Balochistan 22 healthcare providers including 16 doctors, one nurse and five paramedics are confirmed coronavirus patients.
Around 22 healthcare providers – 10 doctors, five nurses and seven paramedics and other staff—have caught the disease in Islamabad, while in Gilgit-Baltistan one doctor and 15 paramedics have become infected with the coronavirus. Similarly, in Azad Kashmir, one doctor and three paramedics are confirmed patients of the viral ailment.
“We are also awaiting results of over 200 doctors and other staff from the entire country. They have been put in quarantine or asked to remain in self-isolation until their test results are announced,” an official of the federal government said on Friday last week.
On the other hand, medical associations say that knowing the actual number of healthcare providers infected with coronavirus in Pakistan is a ‘million-dollar question’, and nobody exactly knows the answer as the provinces are not providing the data of infected healthcare providers to the federal government timely.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), which has been calling for the safety of the healthcare providers and the provision of PPE since February 26, when the first COVID-19 case was reported in the country, claims that based on data gathered by their members from the four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), over 300 healthcare providers—doctors, nurses, paramedics and supporting staff—could be infected in the country, while over 250 others are in quarantine, self-isolation and awaiting results of their tests.
“As per our data, there are more than 100 healthcare providers who have so far tested positive in Sindh alone, where 20 healthcare providers have tested positive for COVID-19 at Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre, while 12 doctors and paramedics have tested positive at the Civil Hospital Karachi alone. On the basis of information from doctors at various public and private hospitals in Karachi and other cities of Sindh, we are sure that over 100 healthcare providers are infected with COVID in Sindh alone,” says Dr Qaiser Sajjad, secretary general of the PMA, while talking to The News on Friday last week.
Dr Qaiser maintained that over 100 doctors and paramedics had so far tested positive for COID-19 in Punjab, including 23 at the Nishtar Hospital Multan, while 10 doctors and nurses of Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital Gujrat had also tested positive, and one of them had expired.
“The situation at the Nishtar Hospital Multan is very serious, where, according to the medical superintendent, around 61 have been positive for coronavirus at the health facility, while results of 50 others are awaited,” he said.
“The number of healthcare providers infected with COVID-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is around 50, including a senior ENT specialist from the Hayatabad Medical Complex, who has been battling for life for the last several days. Around 21 healthcare providers have tested positive for COVID-19 in Balochistan,” Dr Sajjad said and added that there were reports that at least 15 healthcare providers had also tested positive at two major hospitals of the ICT, including Poly Clinic and PIMS.
“There is an urgent need to equip our army of healthcare providers with all the equipment they require for safety and announce perks and privileges which are offered to those who are martyred while serving their motherland.
This is being done by the chief minister of Delhi in India and we should follow suit. There is also a need for providing our healthcare workers with health risk allowance,” Dr Qaiser demanded.
