Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has decided to establish 14 Critical Care Units (CCUs) all over Sindh, including one in Karachi, and they would have ventilators, monitors, pulse oximeter, suction machines, defibrillator and compressors.
He issued these directives to the health department while presiding over the 31st meeting of the Task Force on the coronavirus here at the CM House.
The meeting was attended by Minister Health Dr Azra Fazal Pechuuho, Minister LG Nasir Shah, Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Home Mushtaq Maher, ACS Home Usman Chachar, PSCM Sajid Samal Abro, Secretary Health Zahid Abbasi, Brigadier Abul Sami COS 5 Corps, representatives of Rangers, FIA, airport, CAA, Dr Bari, Dr Faisal and Focal Person MB Dharejio.
The chief minister said that in Karachi 12 new cases emerged on Saturday while on March 27 the number of new cases was 17. Shah said that during the lockdown the government had to strengthen the province's health facilities.
"I want the health dept to establish 14 new CCUs, one in Karachi and 13 in other thickly-populated districts," he said. Shah said that one CCU with 100-200 vent beds would be established in the city and 13 CCUs with 600 vent beds in different districts of the province.
He directed the health secretary to equip the proposed vent bed CCU with ventilators, monitors, pulse oximeters, suction machines, compressors and also provide them with 850 medical officers, 1,320 nurses, ICU technicians and other auxiliary staff.
Shah said that the CCU to be established in the city should have 200 ventilators, 200 monitors, 200 pulse oxymeters, 50 suction machines, 20 defibrillator and 50 compressors. The facility should have 100 doctors, 200 nurses, 75 ICU technicians and 120 auxiliary staff.
The chief minister was told that in the province 45 hospitals have COVID-19 isolation case management facilities. These 45 hospitals have 505 beds where 294 patients have been admitted, 291 were clinically stable and 14 of them have already recovered and released.
The chief minister was told that there were 469 cases of corona in Sindh: 189 in Karachi, seven in Larkana, one in Dadu, seven in Hyderabad and 162 in Sukkur.
"Data shows that the cases of local transmission have reached 132," he said. Shah said that during the last three days 41 cases have been detected.
It may be noted that 63 people of the city have had travel history. One of them came from Italy, eight from Syria, six from Dubai, six from Iran, one from Qatar, seven from Saudi Arabia, six from Turkey, five from US, two from Switzerland, 11 from UK and one from Iraq.
Daily report submitted by the government hospitals showed that 1,874 people were diagnosed as suspects of pneumonia, of them 53 were tested while the private hospitals submitted a list of 702 among them only 26 were tested. At present 150 are in home isolation and 34 in isolation wards of different hospitals. Lockdown: The IG of Police Mushtaq Maher briefed the chief minister about the lockdown. He said that the police had informed the shopkeepers that they would have to close their shops by 5 pm.
"Everyone was informed and onboard about the government decision," he said.
He said that the police mobiles had started patrolling in their respective areas from 4pm so that the shopkeepers start closing their shops at 5pm. He said that everything was moving smoothly.
Shah strictly directed the IG police not to insult or humiliate any person. "You have to politely inform the visitors to return to their homes and in case of resistance action must be taken, otherwise dignity of any person, including children, should not be hurt," he said.