KARACHI: As the COVID-19 infections are increasing day to day once again and with Sindh reporting over 1,300 cases on Tuesday, hospitals in Karachi are increasingly worried about the virus resurgence, expressing concern that they may soon run out of space.
Meanwhile, the provincial health department had claimed that hospitals in Karachi have sufficient capacity at the moment, with its data reporting that approximately half the COVID-19 ICU beds to be unoccupied.
According to health department’s data, a copy of which is available with M.M News, almost 228 of the total 434 ICU beds in hospitals across Karachi are vacant, along with 1,007 of the 1,330 high-dependency unit (HDU) beds and 3,984 of the 4,067 isolation ward beds in the city.
However, the hospital administrations have refuted such reports and expressed concern over the increasing number of COVID-19 infections across the metropolis.
In this regard, Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital’s management informed that all 16 beds in its coronavirus ICU ward are fully occupied. The same is the case for the COVID-19 ICU wards at Ziauddin Hospital’s Clifton and North Nazimabad campus.
However, Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital’s administration informed that almost 88 beds and one ventilator were occupied, whereas health department data shows 14 vacant ICU beds with ventilators.
On the other hand, Lyari General Hospital informed that it had 60 ICU and HDU beds, with 10 ventilators, with the health department saying it has six available ICU beds. While Dow University of Health Sciences said its 30-bed ICU ward was fully occupied, the health department claimed none of its beds were occupied.
Besides, the 100-bed ward meant to be set up at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) remains non-functional, despite being inaugurated by Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar in July.
Health department spokesperson Meeran Yousuf, meanwhile, said that the provincial government had enhanced the capacity of hospitals in this regard very recently. “Our hospitals have enough space, but the number of patients is going up with every passing day,” she added.
“Most of them need HDU beds, not ventilators, and we have enough HDU beds right now,” she claimed, adding that if the number of patients continued to rise in the coming weeks, the situation would turn critical for hospitals.
