No scarcity of healthcare facilities in the hospitals of Pakistan. There are adequate ventilators and beds allocated in hospitals for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Zafar Mirza assured that there is no scarcity of healthcare facilities such as beds, ventilators and other facilities required for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
Dr. Mirza estimated, while addressing a press conference at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) that merely 28 percent of ventilators are under use at hospitals for COVID-19 patients meanwhile adequate ventilators are also available.
According to Dr. Mirza, there is zero chance of inadequacy in this regard and things are pretty much going in the right direction. The patients who fall in the category of critical condition are 723 and out of these 201 are on ventilators.
He further said that although a rapid increase in COVID-19 patients is seen lately but this will not affect the healthcare facilities- ventilators, in particular.
The government has taken shear responsibility to ensure the availability of healthcare facilities for the patients at hospitals and purveying of quality medical treatment.
He also said that the government has introduced a Resource Management System (RMS) in order to collect and provide at the same time the very latest information of COVID-19 patients throughout the country.
The government created RMS in order to keep check on the available remaining health facilities at public sector hospitals of Corona patients. Also, this system allows the government to know the following: beds and ventilators’ occupancy, their availability at ICUs and the allocated wards of hospitals.
He said that the overall benefit of this system is that the concerned authorities can manage the situation in hospitals with great ease and comfort that is to treat the patients effectively having known things already. Besides, he even assured that if any necessary equipment went short then it will not be a problem but could be managed easily.
The Chief Executive Officer of National Information Technology Board (NITB), Shabahat Ali, while providing details about RMS, said that RMS spans the hospitals all over the country. He also said that all the hospitals linked with RMS can, however, update the real-time information so as to provide a consolidated picture of the available resources for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the respective hospital.
Shabahat Ali also said that volunteer and social welfare organizations and government agencies for instance Edhi Foundation and Rescue 1122 will also be given commensurate access to RMS such that they can achieve updated information about available heath facilities and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits for Corona patients.
He said about 1500 hospitals all over Pakistan have been connected with RMS in order to fulfill their purpose with the help of real-time factual data about the quantity of beds, ventilators, room space and other healthcare facilities to treat COVID-19 patients before moving to a particular health facility.