PML-N President and National Assembly opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif has demanded that patients suffering from the new coronavirus must be immediately removed from mainstream hospitals or any part thereof and instead marriage halls, schools, colleges and mosques should be used as quarantine facilities.
Shahbaz made these remarks after chairing a consultative meeting with doctors, medical experts and medical staff. He demanded that "Coronavirus testing should be made free of cost from immediate effect and those who have come from across the border should immediately be mapped.
There is an imperative and unavoidable need for a Disease Surveillance System, which is currently nonexistent. Data regarding many have been screened and how many have been tested should be shared with the nation on a daily basis. Hiding the facts and figures is not a solution but part of the problem", he said.
He demanded that doctors and policemen should be trained. A special plan should be prepared and help be sought from china for the training of doctors and medical staff of the particular manner of caretaking, treatment, use of particular technology and testing.
Even if all needed equipment is provided, such incapacity will prevent the optimum performance without proper training, he added. In the first phase, Master Trainers should be created who can then fan out extensive trainings to consequent batches. Bio-safety level-2 kits in the District Head Quarters' PCRs can also be utilized, he proposed.
Coronavirus patients should not be treated as untouchables they should not be treated as criminals but must be deal with care and compassion, he stressed.
Shahbaz demanded that a special live and health insurance plan be started for the front-line soldiers in this fight, the doctors, nurses and the paramedics. Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, he said, must be immediately restored. Staff of the Hepatitis B & C laboratories established during PMLN tenure, must be provided with corona PCR and bio-safety kits which can save valuable time in testing and many precious lives can be saved through timely intervention, he said.
Dr Saeed Akhtar, Dr Naeemuddin Mian, former Director General Health Dr Zahid Pervez participated in the meeting. Dr Sajjad Rafiq, YDA's Dr Salman Haseeb, President YNA Dr Rozina, Dr Naeem Mian, Dr Nauman Chaudhry, Paramedical Association's Malik Munir, Prof Dr Faisal Amin, Nursing staff and medical assistants also attended the meeting.
The National Assembly Opposition leader once again laid utmost stress over a virtually flawless economic policy and the most efficient use of the resources at hand during this time of crisis.
He renewed his criticism of the government's plan as insufficient, vague, numbers' juggling and full of platitudes and stressed that egos and stubbornness should not stand in the way of adding the opposition's comprehensive strategy and thorough mechanism.-PR