PM opens 250-bed Covid hospital

Facility built in 40 days will ease pressure on other medical centres

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday morning opened a sophisticated 250-bed infectious diseases hospital in Islamabad to take the pressure off other hospitals and to treat seriously ill Covid-19 patients during the coronavirus pandemic.

Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre (IHITC) has been built in record 40 days at a cost of about Rs980 million by Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Institute of Health (NIH) and cooperation of China.

Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing, NDMA Chairman Lt. Gen. Muhammad Afzal, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Minister for Information Shibli Faraz, and other senior officials also attended the launch ceremony of the advanced medical facility.

Timely completion

PM Imran Khan appreciated the timely completion of the hitech hospital and congratulated the team and hospital staff.

At the same time, he warned the public to take precautionary measures and follow the guidelines on Eid-ul-Adha to prevent the Covid-19 spread.

The IHITC Islamabad consists of five wards having single rooms and an ICU each, two general wards, emergency departments, diagnostics, radiology and pathology laboratory besides a mortuary and incinerator.

The medical facility has specialised air filtration system HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning), CCTV, HIMS (Health Information Management System) & LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System), fire and smoke detection system, doctors’ accommodation among others.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 recoveries in Pakistan have now reached 145,311.

The number of active cases is now 90,554 while the total number of deaths reached 4,983, according to the National Command and Operation Centre.