The Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) has demanded safety kits for the entire staff of hospitals dealing with the suspected corona patients including doctors, nurses and paramedics while terming the arrangements made by the government as insufficient. The YDA office bearers said that the safety kits provided to the doctors in hospitals are not according to the standards of World Health Organization and we are working under highly vulnerable circumstances. The N95 masks are not available in the hospitals despite the fact that the staff treating corona patients used the same mask in all the hospitals worldwide where the epidemic appeared, the doctors said.
The President of YDA Punjab Dr Salman Haseeb Chaudhry said that the isolation wards should be established outside the hospitals according to the guidelines of the WHO. The isolation wards inside the hospitals are high risk, he said. “There is an urgent need of 4500 ventilators in hospitals to deal with the Corona but unfortunately our health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid failed miserably to deal with it,” said YDA President on Tuesday, while talking to journalists. He further added that the free test kits are being provided to the Shaukat Khanum Hospital but the public sector hospitals are unable to get the same by the government. According to Dr Salman, all the doctors, nurses and paramedics are working in very vulnerable circumstances without proper safety kits and Prime Minister Imran Khan will be responsible if any unfortunate incident takes place.
It is worth mentioning here that YDA also observed strike in the OPDs of government hospitals to protest against the arrangements made by the health department. They were demanding complete closure of OPDs till the situation of corona improves as they said that it will decrease the burden on the emergency and isolation wards. Governor Punjab Ch Sarwar took notice of the situation as he directed the Vice Chancellor of University of Health Sciences to provide all the safety kits to doctors in next 24 hours as per the WHO standards. He also directed the authorities to ensure enough stock of hand sanitizer and masks for the doctors.
A delegation of YDA comprising Dr Salman Haseeb Chaudhry President YDAP, Dr Shoaib Niazi Senior Vice President YDAP, Dr Mahmood Ahmad President YDA Mayo and Dr Aqib Javed President YDA Jinnah Hospital Lahore held a detailed meeting with Governor Punjab on Tuesday in which they emphasized on the importance of OPDs closures till the situation improves. Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has said that the government will utilize all resources to control corona epidemic, adding that doctors must support the government to protect the people from coronavirus. Entire nation needs to get united against coronavirus and everyone will have to play a due role in this regard. On the appeal of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, Young Doctors Association has announced to postpone its protest strike in public sector hospitals. Meanwhile, on the directives of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, precautionary measures have been tightened further at Governor House. The doctors also conducted screening of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar at the main gate of Governor House, and after that Governor came to his office, while the screening of entire staff and visitors of Governor House will be conducted on daily basis. During his meeting with the doctors, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar said that in addition to public sector institutions, the doctors will also have to play their effective role in coping with corona virus.
He ensured the doctors that all the kits will be ensured in the hospitals in 24 hours.
