PESHAWAR - To review the latest situation of corona across the province, a special
meeting of the provincial cabinet was
held here on Friday with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood
Khan in the chair.
The cabinet was briefed about the
latest corona updates, preventive
measures and other steps taken by
the provincial government to cope
with the Covid-19 and matters related to wheat procurement for the upcoming season.
Regarding the latest position of
procurement of essential medical
equipments for the treatment of Corona patients and Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) for the frontline health workers, the cabinet was
told that uptil now the health department had made a total procurement
worth Rs 1.5 billion including ventilators, surgical masks, N-95 Masks and
other essential items while more procurement was in the pipeline.
The meeting was also informed that
testing capacity for suspected patients of corona had been considerably increased and work is in progress
to further increase it.
The Chief Minister directed the
health department to take necessary
steps to increase the testing capacity
of public sector hospitals on war footings and to increase the capacity to at
least 2000 tests per day.
Mahmood Khan also directed the
concerned quarters to release additional funds to District Health Officers, Medical Superintendents of
all districts to enable them effectively deal with any unwanted situation
there and then.
He also directed to ensure strict implementation of SOPs at quarantine
centers and isolation units set up at
the district level. Mahmood Khan directed the highups of home and relief
departments to make all necessary
arrangements to facilitate the individuals of Tablighi Jumat presently staying in different parts of the province.
He also issued instructions to the
concerned quarters to expedite work
on Gomal Zam Dam and Chashma
Right Bank Canal Project to make the
province self-sustained in wheat production in the future.
Later, while briefing the media
about the cabinet decisions, Advisor to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Information Ajmal Wazir informed that the cabinet had
expressed its satisfaction over the
current situation of wheat and flour
stocks in the province and allowed
the food department to use all available options for the procurement of
wheat for the upcoming season.
The cabinet stressed to give top priority to local purchase of wheat.
Ajmal Wazir informed the media
that the cabinet has unanimously decided to extend the public holidays
and closure of markets for further
one week starting from the coming
Sunday.
“The cabinet approved in principle
the salary package for the professionals to be hired on daily wage basis for
backing up the existing health staff
fighting against corona pandemic.
The professionals to be hired on daily wage basis include pathologists, pulmonologist, nurses and other medical
staff,” the advisor informed and added
that hiring of these staff will be advertised by coming Tuesday via newspapers, websites and other mediums of
mass communication for wide range
of publicity. He added that after hiring,
these staff would be deputed in various districts on need basis.
Ajmal Wazir stated that total number of corona positive cases had
reached 309 with death toll of 09 in
the province. “The cabinet was informed that decisions of the provincial government to maintain social distancing and partial lockdown had
yielded very positive results.”
to control the outbreak of corona,
however, there is still a threat of its
outbreak in urban and congested areas,” Ajmal Wazir said and added that
the cabinet stressed to implement the
social distancing measures more effectively.
“The cabinet was further briefed
that measures were being taken to
enhance the testing capacity for corona patients and testing labs were being set up in tertiary care hospitals of
the province to increase the capacity
to 2000 tests per day,” he remarked
and added that private sector hospitals were also being engaged for the
purpose. Ajmal Wazir also told that to
provide relief to construction industry of the province, the cabinet had
in principle decided to give waver in
provincial taxes and levies.
Regarding the distribution of money under the relief package approved
by the government the advisor informed that 2.1 million households of
the province will be paid 12000 cash
in the first phase and 6000 cash in the
second phase.