Hospitals reach capacity as Delta deals blow to Karachi
Sindh govt says virus situation is turning ‘dangerously serious,’ warning the masses that disregard of health guidelines on Eid would leave the authorities with no other option but to impose strict restrictions
The spread of the coronavirus Delta variant is reaching alarming levels in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi on the eve of the Eid Al Adha as public and some private sector hospitals are reaching capacity and have started refusing patients, medical officials said on Tuesday.
The Sindh government has noted that the COVID-19 situation in Karachi is turning “dangerously serious,” warning the masses that disregard of health guidelines before and during Eid Al Adha would leave the authorities with no other option but to impose strict restrictions.
During the past 24 hours, the corona virus positivity rate in the Sindh capital increased to 25.7%, nearly five times the national rate of 5.25%.
Government hospitals have reached saturation point, something not witnessed during previous waves, and even some private hospitals are refusing patients, said Dr Qaiser Sajjad, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association.
“God have mercy on us, people are not taking this pandemic seriously. such ir responsible behaviour on the Eid festival will make maters worse,” Sajjad told reporters.
The Delta variant could spread during the holiday as people travel from cities like Karachi to their home towns.
According to the Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi, there is 92.2% prevalence of the Delta variant in the city.
Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the Jinnah Hospital, Karachi’s biggest, said that 77 out of its 90 coronavirus beds were occupied and it was planned to add more.
“We did not face such a capacity situation during previous waves,” Jamali said. “The situation is geting prety bad.”
The Muslim holiday and upcoming elections in Kashmir on July 25 could prove to be super spreader events, as government and opposition are busy holding big public gatherings, the two doctors warned.
Last week, Pakistan’s planning minister, Asad Umar, said hospitals were seeing a rapid build-up in the influx of COVID-19 patients. He had earlier warned of a fourth wave if precautionary measures were not followed.
Also, the representative body of the medical fraternity, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), cautioned that the Delta variant may reach most parts of the country on Eid as many residents travel from populated cities to their native towns to spend holidays with their relatives.
As a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases has been recorded in recent weeks, the official figures show that more than 2,000 new cases a day have been reported from across the country on a fith consecutive day.
Anticipating patients’ load on hospitals, two companies were permited to manufacture ventilators when the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) issued licences to them.
Spokesman for the Sindh government and adviser to chief minister Barrister Murtaza Wahab said people were falling ill in large numbers, turning towards hospitals and geting hospitalised. “The situation is again developing to a dangerous extent,” he noted.
“COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPS) aren’t followed by people ater the Sindh government relaxed restrictions which led to the positivity increase. Now Eid Al Adha is coming and it’s a very dangerous, alarming and concerning situation [in Karachi].”
Wahab appealed to citizens to follow the SOPS for “your own benefit” and get vaccinated. “The government doesn’t want that there is strictness and we impose restrictions again, because when we do then sometimes the Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI) says something and sometimes the Mutahida Qaumi Movement does but no one thinks about doctors, health workers and hospitals,” he regreted.
He asked other political parties to create awareness against the coronavirus pandemic instead of creating divide among people. He asked people to restrict their movement for their own health and safety.
The adviser urged people to get inoculated saying that vaccines were available in “ample numbers.”
Without vaccinations, he said, the government would be forced to take “strict decisions.”
“I want to tell citizens that the situation today is dangerous and concerning and if in the next few days we don’t adhere to the SOPS then these numbers (positivity rate) can become more dangerous.