Karachi:
The Sindh government on Saturday issued directions to all public hospitals to conduct coronavirus testing of their employees and also start coronavirus contact tracing again.
In a letter issued by Sindh Director General of Health Dr Irshad Ahmad Memon, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, heads of all public sector hospitals have been asked to test the staff of their facility for coronavirus on a priority basis. In addition, they have been instructed to continue testing to diagnose other suspected cases of COVID-19.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Dr Memon stressed the need for testing of all hospital staff, claiming, however, that Sindh has the lowest number of infected health ministry staff among the provinces.
Another Health Ministry official, also stressing the need for “immediate” screening of healthcare professionals, said the decision came too late.
He explained, “It is feared that most health workers are not following the standard operating procedures (properly). This ultimately leads to a doubling of the number of infected people, even in remote areas.”
This was also confirmed by other officials, who pointed out that SOPs were particularly ignored in private clinics. Officials added that they could then transfer the virus to public hospitals.
Saying that Health Ministry officials did everything they could to monitor health workers and ensure that they followed standard operating procedures, they pointed out that it was almost impossible to monitor private facilities.
According to the Health Ministry, there are 1,500 rapid response teams in Sindh collecting samples for Covid-19 testing, besides serving in various healthcare facilities and helping Covid-19 patients get admitted to hospitals.
A senior official at the Ministry of Health explained: “But after many of them became infected, the number of tests performed daily decreased.” But he added that there were other reasons that also led to a reduction in the number of tests. “(Then) routine testing was disrupted,” he explained.
Speaking on the matter, Pakistan Medical Association Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad also called for immediate screening of healthcare professionals. “We requested this in March, but orders to do so have only been issued now.”
He also saw that the government was creating confusion by reducing the number of tests.
“While the number of tests (conducted daily) is decreasing, the number of cases is rising exponentially,” he noted, explaining that fewer cases being reported has led to people ignoring the SOPs.
He added, “More than 60 percent of citizens have stopped wearing masks.”
Contact tracing
With the Health Ministry also announcing the resumption of Covid-19 contact tracing, a Health Ministry official told The Express Tribune that the exercise was halted due to “some confusion”.
He stressed, “But we are starting it again so that the (suspected) cases can be tracked and examined.”
The silence of the Ministry of Health
Meanwhile, all senior ministry officials, including spokespersons, have reportedly been instructed not to speak to the media for unknown reasons. A health official, who declined to reveal his identity, revealed to The Express Tribune that “only a few are aware of this development.” “We have been asked not to share any information with the media.” He added that none of the ministry officials had access to the daily update on pandemic statistics given by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
“This is the only administration from which the Prime Minister issues statements,” the official said. “While we work for the Ministry of Health, we cannot reach her.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28y2020.
