LAHORE: Hospitals in Lahore have started to turn back patients as they are full to the capacity in the wake of the third wave of coronavirus that has put the city’s health facilities to the test.
Lahore is facing a disastrous coronavirus situation amid a rise in cases due to the UK variant of coronavirus and non-compliance with the coronavirus precautionary measures. In Lahore, at least 112,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported during the on-going third wave, said the provincial health department. It said that the number of deaths has crossed 2,500.
Despite the announcement of punishments, the government is having problems enforcing the anti-COVID measures.
“The law enforcement agencies are only enforcing these measures on the main arteries of the provincial capital by imposing fines, but the violations of SOPs in peripheries and northern areas of Lahore are rampant because there are no measures in place,” a reporter who covers the health beat in the city told The Correspondent.
Meanwhile, hospitals have run out of ventilators and oxygen beds as the number of coronavirus patients has spiked significantly over the past two weeks. The hospitals have no beds left and the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department has endorsed a blanket lockdown in the provincial city — a request later rejected by the government.
During the first wave, the government had converted the Lahore Expo Centre into a facility for coronavirus patients after the hospitals had reached the max capacity. However, now the Expo Centre is operating as a vaccination centre and the government has yet to convert it into a hospital facility.
The Punjab chief minister, Usman Buzdar, has also confirmed that due to an alarming increase in the number of patients, the health system is under strain.
Meanwhile, situation in Islamabad is not different either. At least 800 cases were reported in federal capital and the hospitals designated to treat the coronavirus patients have been operating at near-max capacity. At the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, out of 163 beds, 120 have been filled, a report by Geo said.
The government has designated at least 15 private and government hospitals for the COVID patients after the already-designated hospitals ran out of space.
