The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday sought to engage market associations for the implementation of COVID -19 guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in letter and spirit.
Chairing a meeting at National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umer said that the shopkeepers should strictly implement “no mask, no service,” policy.
He directed the NCOC to concentrate on the plan to ease the lockdown while strictly implementing the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs). The forum suggested taking strict punitive action on violation of SOPs. It must be noted that NCOC is working to devise a long and short term strategy on COVID-19 titled “Living with the Pandemic”.
Asad Umar directed the pursuing of a vigorous mass awareness campaign to highlight the measures taken by the government to contain COVID-19 and underscore its achievements in this regard. The campaign should focus on ensuring behaviour change of the people regarding COVID-19 while also underlining that the government aimed to safeguard the people from the pandemic.
Expressing satisfaction over the availability of ventilators in countrywide hospitals, Asad Umar directed the concerned to provide latest information about the availability of beds and other related facilities for the information of the infected people.
The forum was told that the Resource Management System (RMS) would be rolled out across country from the 1st of June. Under this system, the hospitals would also share the details of local resources available to them, total admitted patients, denial of admissions, no of beds and ventilators available, as well as other facilities being provided to them. Dr Zafar Mirza said that his Ministry was planning to mobilise retired doctors of public sector hospitals, young doctors, doctors on house jobs, and final year medical students to cope with the situation. Moreover, new doctors and paramedics would be recruited through walk-in interviews. The forum was apprised that the provinces had been asked to ensure community mobilisation and set up call Centres in their respective areas by June 15. The forum was told that Sindh and Balochistan governments were not agreeing on imposing smart lockdown. Instead, they preferred the home quarantine policy.
Meanwhile, Dr Zafar Mirza said that there was no shortage of beds, ventilators or any other facility for COVID-19 patients at hospitals.
Addressing a press conference at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Dr Mirza said that only 28 percent ventilators are being used at hospitals to support corona patients while sufficient quantity is available for incoming patients.
He made it clear that there is no crisis in this regard and things are moving in right direction. He said that so far 723 patients are in critical condition and out of them 201 are on ventilators.
Dr Mirza said that although the number of patients on ventilators is increasing, the ratio of ventilator usage is low, which means still enough number of ventilators and beds are available in hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
He said that the government is committed to ensure availability of medical services for corona patients at hospitals and provision of best possible medical treatment.
He said that the government has developed a Resource Management System (RMS) to collect and provide real-time information about corona patients throughout the country.
He said that the government has developed this system with having update on status of available facilities at public sector hospitals for COVID-19 patients. He said that with this system the government will be able to know the beds and ventilators’ occupancy and availability at ICU and allocated wards of hospitals.
He said that with the help of this system, the authorities concerned can easily manage the situation in hospitals to properly treat the corona patients. He added shortage of any necessary equipment could be managed. Giving details about RMS, Chief Executive Officer of National Information Technology Board, Shabahat Ali said all the hospitals across Pakistan have been linked with this system. He said these hospitals can update real time data to provide a unified and consolidated picture of the resources available to treat corona patients in respective hospital.
