LAHORE                -                 Keeping in view the prevailing situation of the COVID-19, the Punjab Healthcare Commission has taken various steps to fight the deadly pandemic.

To assess the preparedness of public and private hospitals for the reception and care of COVID-19 patients, a checklist was developed in consultation with experts from the Civil Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore, World Health Organization (WHO), private sector hospitals, Institute of Public Health (IPH), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and member Board of Commissioners PHC Prof Dr Tariq Iqbal Bhutta, under the chair of Prof Dr Attiya Mubarak Khalid, Chairperson PHC.

This checklist is being used by all concerned. The PHC teams, with the help of the checklist, have started the assessment of the hospitals’ preparedness, and providing hands-on support. During the last week, 32 bigger hospitals (10 Public and 22 Private) have been inspected.

The private-sector hospitals and laboratories have been provided guidelines to manage the COVID-19 patients, developed by the government, and other international agencies. Reporting from private hospitals and laboratories is being ensured.

Resultantly, the laboratories testing for Covid-19, have started reporting positive and negative cases regularly.