Covid-19 outbreak: 13,000 health facilities to collect surveillance data, SC informed

The federal government has informed the apex court that 13,000 health facilities across the country have been entrusted with collecting surveillance data about the outbreak of the COVID-19.

The federal government through the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on Saturday filed a report in the Supreme Court on the steps taken to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

A five-judge larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, will resume suo motu hearing regarding steps taken by the federal, all the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan governments, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration to combat spread of the coronavirus. The measure include various administrative action, initiation of coordination mechanisms, development of the National Action Plan (NAP) for the COVID-19 emergency, qualification of costing of essential equipment, and planning of response strategies.

According to report, Prime Minister [Imran Khan] on March 13, 2020 chaired 32nd National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, wherein all the stakeholders decided for close coordination; unified response with daily monitoring through the National Coordination Committee (NCC); awareness campaigns for prevention and steps to limit panic; and operation duty to control the COVID-19 entrusted to the NDMA.

It says that the SOPs/guidelines are being framed and regularly updated are being developed in consultation with the provinces and lead epidemiological experts. In order to facilitate and ease the import of essential equipment and supplies, the Ministry of the NHSRC is fully engaged with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to facilitate waiver on categorised equipment on 61 items.

In addition to that, the ministry is encouraging the local production of critical medical equipment with the support of the DRAP, and the DESTO.

The federal government has established "Sehat Tahaffuz" helpline 1166 to provide health-related information services to the people.

Through the helpline, citizens will be able to obtain immediate assistance to their queries and concerns related to the COVID-19 and will direct for hospital care if need arise, social distancing measures and quarantine/isolation protocols have also been included in the advisory. The national/provincial/regional situation is being updated on the web through a dedicated web portal (www.covid.gov.pk).

The report said that many points of entry (PoEs) have been closed/restricted to enable strict screening at major PoEs.

Special counters have been established at all the major international airports of Pakistan. All the ground crossings at Taftan, Chaman and Torkham borders were further strengthened, extra staff deployed, and emergency declared at bordering areas of Balochistan with Iran.

All the passengers were required to fill mandatory health declaration forms before landing in Pakistan.

Total 207 hospitals in all the major cities and 154 districts have been identified for isolation of suspected patients, and isolation capacity has been increased.