Observer Report
Islamabad
National Command and Operation Centre has emphasized the need for educating the masses and disseminating of guidelines through a robust public awareness campaign to ensure the wearing of face masks at public places.
The NCOC in a meeting, headed by the Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, discussed the current status of testing capacity per million of the population, ventilator stocks, possible future demand, and capacity building of the health care professionals to cope with the pandemic at different tiers.
The NCOC was told that a special documentary on the use of personal protective equipment had been successfully launched and telecast on all media channels.
The documentary is aimed at visually aiding doctors, paramedics, and health care workers to wear PPE equipment during different procedures. The documentary would not only ensure the safety of doctors but will also contribute towards judicious utilization and avoidance of unnecessary use of PPE.
Major areas of usage include inpatient facilities, outpatient facilities, community/social, labs/ sampling places. NCOC through a joint effort of health Ministry and health experts had already prepared guidelines/SOPs based on world’s best practices about wearing of PPE by different health care workers. These guidelines/SOPs had already been disseminated to all concerned. In order to benefit from this, a special documentary was prepared depicting the usage of various PPE equipments by different people while performing their duties during COVID-19. Asad Umar said that in a short span, the government has been able to reach out to people through Ehsaas Programme, and relief to industrial sector and powers bills payment for small and medium enterprises had also been provided. Pakistan conducted the highest number of tests per day during the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Centre was informed. A total of 14,878 tests were conducted by health authorities across the country on Friday.
During the NCOC meeting, satisfaction over the increase in testing capacity was expressed. Capacity has increased by around 30 times. The country had two labs to test Covid-19 samples in mid-March and now has 70 laboratories.
The provincial chief secretaries including of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, gave input on the implementation of health protocols and standard operating procedures post 9 May decisions, Eid prayer congregation along with the implementation of SOPs devised for industries and markets.
Speaking on the occasion, Umar said the implementation of SOPs and social distancing was only possible through public education and awareness.
The forum was of the view that markets associations and traders organisations must ensure compliance of SOPs issued by the health ministry. In case of non-compliance, the particular market as a whole would be closed for failing to ensure collective responsibility.
“The testing capacity of the country has favourably increased and over 14,000 tests have been carried in the country which is encouraging and should be increased further,” said Umar
