Daily Times

Doctors and health experts have urged the government to declare a public health emergency in Karachi, citing a shortage of beds for coronavirus patients.

Due to the rapid spread of Delta variant cases in the country’s financial metropolis, Karachi’s hospitals are running out of room.

The Indus Hospital’s coronavirus ward and emergency room have been overflowing with patients, according to the hospital’s management.

Professor Abdul Bari stated that the hospital is adding more beds to accommodate patients.

“The coronavirus situation has gone out of control. People should follow coronavirus SOPs and get themselves vaccinated,” said Dr Bari.

Government officials said that NIPA’s Infectious Diseases Hospital is at full capacity, adding that there was no space for any more patients at the Expo centre.

Agha Khan Hospital has also started refusing to admit any patients.

In response to the rise in the number of cases, the Civil Hospital has turned its 48-bed surgical ward into a coronavirus ward, while Jinnah hospital’s chest ward is also being turned into a coronavirus ward.

On the other hand, government officials say that there has been a rise in the number of sick children in government hospitals of Karachi.

Professor Anjum Rehman of the Lyari General Hospital said that children diagnosed with the Delta variant are being admitted at the facility. She added that the hospital was also increasing bed capacity in its coronavirus ward.

Officials also said that coronavirus infections are also on the rise among doctors and medical staff.

The province administration is likely to impose tough measures in the city to stem the rapid spread of the Delta strain, which presently accounts for 92 percent of infection cases and has a positive ratio of more than 23%.

An official of the Sindh Health Department said that to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Karachi, some strict measures can be decided by the provincial government during the next meeting of the Provincial Taskforce on COVID-19, which is scheduled to meet today.

“Without putting strong non-pharmaceutical interventions in place, COVID’s spread cannot be controlled,” he warned.

According to the report, the health authorities have started reserving more beds, wards and human resources at two major tertiary-care hospitals in Karachi to deal with the growing number of COVID-19 cases.

“A surgical ward comprising 48 beds is being converted into a COVID-19 ward at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), while the pulmonology ward at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) has also been put on standby to deal with the rising cases due to the Delta variant, which is now spreading like wildfire in the city,” a Sindh Health Department official told the publication.

The official said that all the elective surgeries have been cancelled at the CHK to prevent the health care staff from contracting the viral infection, while other elective surgeries and procedures at other medical facilities have also been halted, except for emergencies, adding that Karachi is heading towards “a serious medial crisis”.

Claiming that hospitalisation has increased four times from 390 patients in April to around 1,000 in mid-July, the official said that some COVID-19 treatment facilities, including the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Nipa and the Expo Centre, are already overwhelmed with patients, while other tertiary-care health facilities are also under tremendous pressure.