Coronavirus patients: Private hospitals must be bound to allocate beds, other facilities

A meeting on the coronavirus chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday decided that private hospitals must also be bound to allocate specific number of beds and other facilities for coronavirus patients.
The meeting reviewed implementation of decisions taken by the National Coordination Committee (NCC), facilities available in the country for testing and control of the coronavirus as well as measures taken to ensure continuation of industrial activities and transportation of essential commodities.
Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh briefed the meeting regarding implementation of government's economic package of Rs1,200 billion.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Economic Affairs Division, Hammad Azhar, briefed the meeting about the measures being taken to ensure continuation of industrial activities.
Special Assistant Dr Moeed Yusuf briefed the meeting on the implementation of the NCC decisions.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman, Lieutenant-General Muhammad Azfal, briefed the prime minister about establishment of laboratories for the coronavirus diagnosis and availability of testing kits.
The prime minister was informed that by March 13, a total of 14 laboratories were in the country for testing of the coronavirus, but now there were 20 laboratories operational.
The meeting was informed that 12 more labs were being established and soon the target of 32 labs would be achieved.
With regards to testing kits, the meeting was informed that 57,000 kits were received from China, and subsequently 20,000 and 10,000 kits were received, and 192,000 testing kits would be reaching the country on Wednesday (today). The total number of testing kits available in the country would become 280,000.
The meeting was also given briefing on the availability of kits as well as ventilators and other equipments in the provinces as well.
The prime minister said that other countries' experiences should be taken into consideration with respect to coronavirus control and testing, and stated that data gathering from the provinces regarding number of patients, facilities in the hospitals as well as testing kits should be done in an organized manner.