The Sindh government has setup Isolation centers in all districts of the province to cope with the emergency situation in view of increasing number of coronavirus positive cases. According to district-wise breakup, a 1200-bed Isolation Center has been setup at Expo Center and 300-bed Isolation Center at PAF Museum Karachi while Hyderabad has 1100-bed, Thatta 100-bed, Badin 150-bed, Dadu 101-bed, Jamshoro 220-bed, MirpurKhas 150-bed, Umerkot 150-bed, Mithi 130-bed, Chhachhro 100-bed, Shikarpur 330-bed, Sukkur 1344-bed, Khairpur 400-bed, Larkana 330-bed, Jacobabad 200-bed and Qambar has 150-bed Isolation Center. This information was shared in a meeting presided over by Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah at his office on Tuesday. Senior Member Board of Revenue QaziShahid Pervez, Secretary Health ZahidAbbasi, Secretary Agriculture Abdul Rahim Soomro, Secretary Food Laeq Ahmed and Secretary Rehabilitation attended the meeting while Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners participated the meeting through video link. Food Minister Hari Ram also attended the meeting on special invitation. The Secretary Health in his briefing informed that the public sector hospitals of the province have currently 589 Ventilators while 200 more ventilators are being purchased. According to him, 469 ventilators were made available in Karachi and only 120 ventilators are in the rest of hospitals of province. The Chief Secretary directed the Commissioners of different Divisions to monitor themselves the management of ventilators and ensure availability of the things required at the Isolation Centers. He also directed the Secretary Health to ensure availability of Personal Protection Equipment at all the Isolation Centers. Mumtaz Shah said that the COVID-19 test lab capacity has been increased in the province however more test labs are being established at Sukkur and ShaheedBenazirabad. A test lab with 300 tests’ capacity would soon be setup at Sukkur. The meeting also discussed the locust swarms’ presence in various districts of Sindh. Chief Secretary directed the Deputy Commissioners to devise contingency plans separately for their respective districts and ensure that the fumigation is carried out by the staff of plant protection and agriculture departments. He suggested formation of committees at district and taluka level and inducting the local farmers as members in the committees.
