Punjab CM approves setting up of 1000-bed field hospital in Lahore
The chief minister also announced funds worth around Rs8 billion for the Health department and PDMA
LAHORE (Web Desk) – Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has approved to set up field hospital of 1000 beds capacity at Expo Centre Lahore and directed Commissioner Lahore Division to take immediate steps in this regard.
He was chairing a meeting of the cabinet committee at his office on Friday to review the steps being taken for overcoming the threat of coronavirus and pondering over different steps to secure the lives of the people. The meeting also reviewed the proposal of air-lifting of pilgrims from Iran.
The chief minister also announced funds worth around Rs8 billion for the Health department and PDMA. On his instructions, the Finance department had released the funds on an emergent basis.
The chief minister said that a ministerial committee had been constituted to extend cooperation to the Balochistan government and set up a quarantine facility in Taftaan. The Punjab government would immediately provide one billion rupees to the Balochistan government, he added.
The chief minister also constituted a committee to resolve the problems of doctors and other health professionals, and said that encouragement of doctors was necessary as they took care of coronavirus patients. He also announced to resolve the economic problems of daily wage employees and added that provision of salaries to daily wage employees would be continued and they would not be left alone in this difficult situation.
He said that the telemedicine programme had already been started in medical colleges. While announcing to set up chief minister s fund, Usman Buzdar appealed to the philanthropists to generously donate, and assured that every penny would be spent for combating the coronavirus.
The chief minister said that identification of 880 beds had been completed in eight hotels of the provincial metropolis to utilize them in case of need. Work had been started to establish quarantine centres in hotels of other major cities and provincial ministers had also been assigned duties in different districts. He directed the ministers to immediately visit their assigned districts and take necessary steps.
Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said the Federal government would be approached for taking steps to give relief to the people. He said that pilgrims coming from Taftaan would be provided with every facility in quarantine centres of Punjab. He added that 1250 pilgrims had reached the quarantine centre at labour complex in Multan and told that quarantine centres were also being set up in Gujrat, Faisalabad and Taxila. Similarly, floors would be reserved for the treatment of coronavirus patients in private hospitals. So far, coronavirus had been confirmed in 96 patients in Punjab, he added.
Usman Buzdar directed to immediately provide masks and other material to hospitals and disclosed that SOPs had been devised for home-based isolation and a collective mechanism would also be devised in consultation with the Federal government.
He approved to recruit retired doctors and other staff through walk-in-interviews and added that the Punjab government would recruit them on an emergency basis for the treatment of coronavirus patients.
Provincial Ministers Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hashim Jawan Bakht, Muhammad Akhtar Malik, Mussarat Jamshed MPA, Chief Secretary, IGP, SMBR, ACS (Home) and others attended the meeting.
