KARACHI:
The Sindh government on Saturday issued directives to all government hospitals to get their staff tested for Covid-19 as well as resume coronavirus contact tracing.
In a letter issued by the Director of Health in Sindh, Dr. Irshad Ahmed Memon, a copy of which is available with The Express Pakinomist, the heads of all government hospitals have been asked to get the staff of their respective facilities tested for coronavirus on a priority basis. In addition, they have been instructed to continue tests to diagnose other suspected Covid-19 cases.
Speaking to The Express Pakinomist, Dr. Memon called for all hospital staff to be tested, but claimed that Sindh had the least number of infected health department staff among the provinces.
Another health ministry official, who also stressed the need for “immediate” screening of health workers, said the decision had come too late.
“It is feared that most health workers do not do that [properly] follow standard operating procedures. This ultimately leads to multiplying the number of infected people, even in remote areas,” he explained.
This was also confirmed by other officials who pointed out that SOPs were being ignored especially in private clinics. They can then carry the virus to government hospitals, the officials added.
They said health ministry officials were doing all they could to monitor health workers and ensure they followed SOPs, noting that monitoring private facilities was almost impossible.
According to the health department, there are 1,500 rapid response teams in Sindh that collect samples for Covid-19 testing, besides serving at various health facilities and helping Covid-19 patients enter hospitals.
“However, after more of them contracted the infection, the number of tests conducted daily was reduced,” explained a senior health ministry official. However, he added that other reasons also contributed to reducing the number of tests. “[Following this]routine tests were interrupted,” he explained.
Speaking on the matter, Pakistan Medical Association Secretary General, Dr. Qaisar Sajjad, also for immediate screening of healthcare workers. “We had asked for it in March, but orders for it have only been issued now.”
He was also of the view that the government was causing confusion by reducing the number of tests.
“While the number of tests [conducted daily] decreases, the number of cases increases,” he noted, explaining that fewer cases being reported had led to people ignoring SOPs.
“Over 60 percent of citizens have stopped wearing masks,” he claimed.
Contact tracing
When the health ministry also announced to resume Covid-19 contact tracing, a health ministry official told The Express Pakinomist that the exercise was stopped due to “some confusion.”
“But we start it again, so that [suspected] cases can be tracked and screened,” he confirmed.
The silence of the health department
Meanwhile, all senior officials in the department, including spokespersons, have reportedly been instructed not to speak to the media for unknown reasons. “Only a few are privy to this development,” a health official, on condition of anonymity, revealed to The Express Pakinomist. “We have been told not to share any information with the media.” He added that none of the department officials had access to the daily update on pandemic statistics given by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
“This is the only department for which the CM is releasing data,” the official said. “And while we work in the health department, we don’t have access to that.”
Published in The Express Pakinomist, June 28th2020.
