The focal persons from government hospitals across the province would be trained on treatment, diagnosis and case management of people infected with the monkeypox virus, on May 2. This was disclosed by Dean IPH Prof Dr Zarfashan Tahir while presiding over a high-level meeting in the committee room of the Department of Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education here on Thursday. She said the Punjab government had assigned special task to the Institute of Public Health (IPH) for prevention and control of monkeypox and training of health professionals and health education. In this connection, the Dean IPH has asked the names of focal persons from the government hospitals. She told the participants of the meeting that in light of orders of the provincial government, the institute would prepare training modules on surveillance, health education, monitoring and diagnosis of monkeypox and it would establish a disease monitoring centre in the IPH within a week. She said the centre would review the situation on a daily basis and issue alerts. The institute would also provide training to the staff of Civil Aviation Authority, Rescue-1122 and other related departments about the disease, she said. Dr Zarfashan said that advance arrangements had been completed in all the hospitals for the treatment of expected patients and isolation wards were also functional as per the instructions of the government. She said that people should not get panic, take precautions, avoid going in crowded places and make sure to use face mask and wash hands with soap to avoid spreading the virus. He asked the management of all hospitals that if any suspected case of monkeypox was reported, it should be brought to the notice of higher authorities without any delay so that timely case management could be ensured. Officers of both the Health Departments, PITB, Rescue-1122, representative World Health Organization and CDC Director attended the meeting.