Virus test made compulsory for patients before surgery in KP

ISLAMABAD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) health department has made COVID-19 test compulsory for patients prior to undergoing surgery at public sector hospitals to know the exact quantum of the infection among the people.

The measure has been taken for fulfilment of the guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation ( WHO).

“On the first day of reopening of OPD ater its closure in April, four of the five patients admited for ENT surgeries turned out to be positive for COVID-19 in Ayub Medical Complex Abbotabad. All the patients will undergo coronavirus testing prior to their operations,” a senior health official said.

According to him, the COVID-19 has now become part of the pre-screening for all patients undergoing surgeries, like hepatitis B and C.

The WHO has been urging the provincial health authorities to escalate COVID-19 testing as the pandemic is still around and more testing is the only way to know about its incidence.

The KP has now atained the capacity to conduct 8,000 tests per day but there is shortage of swabs and the health department has been trying to collect more samples.

Last week, the health department established special counters at the hospitals to subject patients with respiratory ailments and having flu-like symptoms to compulsory testing. Fity per cent of such patients in Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex test positive for Covid-19 on average per day.

Health officials said that last week, National Command and Operations Centre recommended seting up special counters to know about the scale of the pandemic through enhanced testing. On August 12, the province recorded only 88 cases and no person died of the coronavirus.

In a separate development, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s former principal secretary Raheel Siddiqui in a case of issuance of a liquor licence to a Lahore hotel in violation of the law.