PESHAWAR - Management of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s biggest public sector health facility, Lady Reading Hospital, has made arrangements for a Corona Complex in the cardiology block to provide timely medical care to COVID-19 patients.
Speaking to The Nation, LRH Director Dr Khalid Masud said that the Corona Complex would start functioning within two days.
“But I will advise people to isolate themselves at their homes if their condition is not severe and they just suspect themselves to have interacted with a positive case. This will alleviate the burden on the hospitals,” the official added.
The complex will have 190 beds and it would increase the hospital’s capacity from accommodation of 40 corona patients to 230 COVID-19 patients.
The hospital’s spokesmen Muhammad Asim said that after very careful assessment, the institutional management committee, corona committee and chairman BoG approved the proposal put forward by Prof Aamir Bilal to convert the cardiology block into Corona Complex. Asim said the hospital management also wanted to ensure quality cardiology services, besides setting up the new Corona Complex.
Dean LRH Prof Dr Abdul Latif Khan said that suspected COVID-19 patients would be admitted in separate isolation (private rooms), CCU and Thoracic HDU while Thoracic ICU would be used for ventilation when general ICU beds are full. He said there were separate beds allocated for positive patients.
He added that they have recently purchased IR dedicated angiography machine worth of Rs130 million, which is functional since September 2019 while 86 procedures have been done so far. He also denied the report that the IR dedicated machine is not functional.
He also said that in view of the current situation, the hospital management are expecting more COVID-19 patients and the Corona Complex will accommodate them with proper medical care and oxygen support.
Head of LRH Cardiology Department Assistant Professor Dr Jabar rebutted the report that cardiology services were compromised due to the Corona Complex establishment.
“Cardiology services will remain open and being shifted to a new block that has a ward, CCU and pacemaker insertion facility as we also cannot compromise on Cath lab services that remain functional 24/7 to deal with heart patients who are rushed to LRH,” he said.
He added that segregated pathway has been made, including a new door and exclusively reserved lift for Cath lab emergencies, keeping all Cath labs and post Cath CCU segregated for corona and functional Cath lab emergencies.
