KARACHI: Over 1.3 million people including some 90 percent of frontline healthcare workers and 75 percent policemen have so far been vaccinated in Sindh province. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah informed this while inaugurating a Covid-19 Vaccination Centre at Expo Centre Hall-3 here on Sunday morning.
CM said that his government had started vaccination drive on February 3, 2021 all over Sindh. "Till today over 1.3 million people have been vaccinated in the province," he said and added that his government has set a target to vaccinate every resident of the province to make Sindh and Pakistan Corona free. Almost 90 percent of frontline health care workers and 75 percent policemen have been vaccinated, he said.
Talking about Karachi, the CM said that 800,000 people have been vaccinated in the city till date.
"We have established 380 Covid-19 vaccination centres all over Sindh, of them 115 are in Karachi," he said and added Sindh has capacity to vaccinate 200,000 people per day including 100,000 in Karachi.
Shah said that the vaccination centre at Expo Hall-4 started working on 9th of May, 2021 and till this date 200,000 citizens have been vaccinated there. He added that the Hall-4 has the capacity to vaccinate 30,000 people per day. "Today, we are starting Hall-3 to vaccinate 15,000 people per day," he said. The CM said that 250 mobile vaccination Units have been activated in the province, including 157 in Karachi to vaccinate the people in areas such as shopping malls, industrial areas, banking sector, bed ridden and handicapped people.
"The objective is to establish five mobile units at every taluka level; for the purpose 630 mobile units would start operation very soon," he said. He urged people to avail home vaccination facility calling through four-digit helpline No. 9123.
"This facility is being provided to bed ridden, elderly and handicapped people," he said.
He was accompanied by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Minister Information Nasir Shah, and Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab. Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho also spoke on the occasion.
Sindh Chief Minister talking to media reiterated his stance that the salaries of those government employees will be stopped who fail to get themselves vaccinated during the month of June 2021. "I am sure the private sector would also take similar steps," he said and added, "this is the only way to protect oneself and others."
Shah said that vaccination has been declared mandatory for shopkeepers, transport workers, schoolteachers and for everyone. He said that the restrictions imposed to contain Covid-19 have produced positive results. "When restrictions were imposed there was a 17 percent detection rate and now it has come down to 11 percent," he disclosed.
He said that the decision to impose restrictions was not made by him but "we take decisions on the advice of Task Force members," he said.
He added that the death rate in the province was the lowest and the recovery rate was the highest. Replying to a question, Shah said that ever since the current federal government has come into power it has been treating Sindh with abject bias. "If the number of schemes and their allocation [for provincially executed projects for Sindh] in the PSDP for the past four years and the proposals for next year are taken into account the PTI government's injustice with the people of Sindh would be exposed," he said.
Giving details of the PSDP schemes, he said that in 2017-18 there were 27 schemes in the PSDP with an allocation of Rs27.38 billion, in 2018-19 the number of schemes was reduced to 22 with an allocation of Rs14.266 billion. In 2019-20 again schemes were reduced to 13 and allocation came down to Rs8.5 billion. In 2020-21 only 10 schemes of Rs8.3 billion were given to Sindh and for 2021-22 only six schemes of Rs5 billion have been proposed.
Shah said that the federal government was financing the construction of provincial roads in Punjab but has completely ignored Sindh.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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