Current Final

Category: Health

  • Two-week complete lockdown in worst-hit Lahore from today?

    Punjab health authorities and local administration have proposed a complete lockdown in the provincial capital as the COVID-19 positivity ratio stands at around 19% for the third consecutive week.

    The final decision, in this regard, will be taken by the Asad Umar-led National Command Operation Centre (NCOC).

    Lahore is the worst-hit during the third wave of the pandemic owing to the recklessness of the masses and disinterest of the government. Both had turned a blind eye towards the virus situation until the positivity ratio climbed to a whopping 23% last week.

    The situation in other parts of Punjab is not much better either.

    Punjab Health Minister Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid has said that if precautionary measures are not taken, the situation in Lahore and other cities would worsen.

    Explaining the alarming situation in the Punjab capital, she said there were no vacant ventilators at any of the city’s major hospitals, including Jinnah Hospital, Services Hospital and Gangaram Hospital.

    Besides the shortage of ventilators, oxygen beds at hospitals across Lahore have also reached their 70% capacity.

    “We don’t have any other option rather than the complete lockdown in Lahore however the final decision will be taken by the Punjab government,” the provincial health minister added.

    Meanwhile, 58 people lost their lives due to coronavirus with 4,584 new cases over the past 24 hours. The death toll has surged to 15,501 while the number of confirmed cases stands at 725,602.

    The 58 fatalities on Sunday-Monday come after over 100 deaths ever 24 hours for at least five consecutive days.

  • High hopes for Pakistan with aim to start local manufacturing of Sputnik V vaccine

    High hopes for Pakistan with aim to start local manufacturing of Sputnik V vaccine

    Pakistan is all set to start the local manufacturing the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in collaboration with Russia in the coming months.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart on Wednesday, said Pakistan was looking forward to Russian collaboration for the local production of the Sputnik V vaccine.

    The Russian FM said his government had provided 50,000 doses to Pakistan and intended to provide more than 150,000 doses in the coming weeks.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had arrived on Tuesday for a two-day visit in Islamabad, where he was received by Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

    FM Lavrov also expressed satisfaction over an increase in bilateral trade that reached $790 million over the last year.

    Earlier, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had approved the emergency use of the Russian vaccine.

    Two doses of it are currently being administered across private facilities in major cities for around Rs13,000.

    It has an efficacy rate of over 91%.

  • Lahore: 550 doses of COVID-19 vaccine go missing from one hospital, 350 spoiled at another

    Lahore: 550 doses of COVID-19 vaccine go missing from one hospital, 350 spoiled at another

    Around 550 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have reportedly gone missing from Lahore’s Services Hospital, media reports have claimed citing sources at the health department.

    According to the reports, an additional 350 doses of coronavirus vaccines stored at the city’s Government Mozang Teaching Hospital have “gone to waste”, while no record could be found for the nearly 600 missing ones.

    The missing vaccines have been administered to important personalities, bureaucrats, and their friends, sources at the health department said, adding that Federal Minister for Housing Tariq Bashir Cheema of the Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q), along with his wife, also received the COVID-19 jab from the missing doses.

    On the other hand, the principal of the Services Hospital says that the vaccines haven’t disappeared but there has been an issue with the compilation of records.

    Provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid maintains that the government is carrying out an audit of the vaccine doses and a report related to that will be submitted soon.

    Meanwhile, the medical superintendent of Mozang Teaching Hospital has been suspended after 350 coronavirus vaccine doses stored there were spoiled.

    According to a notification of the Punjab Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department dated March 29, the MS, Dr Munir Ahmad Ghouri, was “placed under suspension, under Section 6 of PEEDA Act, 2006, on accounts of inefficiency and misconduct, with immediate effect”.

    A senior official of the provincial health department said that the medical superintendent was suspended after 350 coronavirus vaccine doses, stored in the refrigerator at his office were spoiled.

    “He stored the doses in the refrigerator in his office and then went on leave,” the official added.

  • Mosques to remain open in Ramzan; Pakistan’s daily COVID-19 cases at eight-month high

    Mosques to remain open in Ramzan; Pakistan’s daily COVID-19 cases at eight-month high

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on Religious Harmony Maulana Tahir Ashrafi has said that mosques across the country will remain open during the holy month of Ramzan amid the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Statement of the premier’s aide coincided with the country reporting highest daily rise in the number of coronavirus infections in eight months as 4,974 cases in 24 hours took the tally to 672,931.

    At least 98 deaths in a day took the total number of fatalities in the country to 14,530.

    “There is decree of religious scholars that people should get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19,” Ashrafi told reporters in Islamabad on Wednesday.

    He further said that scholars from various schools of thought have assured their full support to follow COVID-19 SOPs during prayers timings in Ramazan.

    There are currently 3,303 critical patients of COVID-19 admitted at different hospitals in the country.

    The country has so far conducted 1,02,47,374 coronavirus tests countrywide.

    The positivity ratio reported in the last 24 hours is 9.93%.

    While complete lockdown is time and again being ruled out by authorities, it merits a mention that last year’s months-long closure of all businesses had come while positivity ratio stood below 8%.

  • COVID-19: Get vaccinated privately for only Rs4,225 per injection

    With the federal cabinet deciding to cap the maximum retail price of Russian and Chinese coronavirus vaccine injections imported by the private sector, the Drug Pricing Committee of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had proposed the same for two vaccines.

    Only those of 60 years of age or above are currently being vaccinated free of cost by the government in the absence of a wider state-run vaccination programme.

    However, Sputnik V’s GAM-Covid-Vac solution manufactured by the FSBI NF Gamalaya RCEM of the Russian Health Ministry and Convidecia vaccine manufactured by CanSino Biologics Inc will soon be available for Pakistanis seeking to get privately vaccinated against the deadly virus.

    The government has fixed the maximum sale price of Sputnik V vaccine at Rs8,449 for two doses and China’s Convidecia at Rs4,225 per injection, showed the summary of the National Health Services and Regulations Ministry.

    Further details have not yet been disclosed.

  • COVID-19: Pakistan begins registration of senior citizens for vaccination

    COVID-19: Pakistan begins registration of senior citizens for vaccination

    The Head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar announced on Monday that the government has started registration for COVID-19 vaccination of citizens above 65. The vaccination drive for them will begin in March.

    “Pleased to announce that registration for getting COVID vaccine is now open for all citizens 65 and above,” wrote the minister on Twitter.

    Umar said those interested in getting themselves vaccinated can write down their CNIC number and send a message on 1166. 

    “InshAllah vaccinations for this age group will start in March,” he added.

    Read More – Here’s how you can register for COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan

    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Jhagra praised the NCOC, SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and NCOC head Asad Umar for their efforts.

  • Govt allows private companies to import COVID-19 vaccine

    Govt allows private companies to import COVID-19 vaccine

    The government will allow private companies to import coronavirus vaccines and has agreed to exempt such imports from price caps as the world scrambles to secure supplies.

    The documents show the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination division had sought a special cabinet exemption to allow for such imports while excluding the imported vaccines from the strict price cap regime that is typically applied to all drug sales within the country.

    The federal cabinet, the documents suggest, has approved the proposal.

    State Minister of Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that the government still planned to inoculate its population for free and only a “small minority” who wish to pay for the shots will have that option in the open market.

    “Only those who wish to get it via private sector will pay anything,” he said. “Personally, my assessment is that when the vaccines are available and we have market competition, that will automatically set the prices.”

    Pakistan began rolling out the anti-coronavirus jabs last week after receiving half a million shots of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.

    As per the roll-out plan, the vaccine will first be made available to more than 400,000 doctors and frontline healthcare workers, teachers and social workers because they run the highest risk of exposure to the contagious disease.

    After that, the shots will be provided to citizens over the age of 65, who generally face a higher mortality risk from the virus.

    Pakistan received its first tranche of the Sinopharm jabs, given by China as a “gift”, on Tuesday last week. The shipment marked the first shots to be imported into the country where more than 550,000 cases of the disease have been reported since the outbreak in February last.

    In addition, the government is due to receive a further 1.1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine by the end of this month, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had announced late last month.

  • Carmat introduces artificial hearts for heart patients

    Artificial hearts will be available on sale for those suffering from critical heart diseases in Europe.

    French medical company Carmat has developed the technology and named it Aeson. According to details, it will be available for purchase in the second quarter of 2021. The company has also received approval for it from regulatory authorities.

    The 900g machine created to mimic the biological characteristics and functioning of a normal heart is fully capable of facilitating blood circulation in the body.

    “The idea behind this heart, which was born nearly 30 years ago, was to create a device which would replace heart transplants, a device that works physiologically like a human heart, one that’s pulsating, self-regulated and compatible with blood,” said Stéphane Piat, Carmat’s CEO.

    The device is designed to replace a real heart for years in patients with end-stage biventricular heart failure. For now, it has only been approved as a temporary implant for those awaiting a heart transplant.

    According to several estimates, around 2,000 biventricular heart failure patients are on transplant waiting lists across Western Europe.

  • Pakistani-Russian scientist introduces ‘COVID-19 cure’

    Pakistani-Russian scientist Prof Dr Jan Alam has introduced the media to a mineral-based medicine invented by him for the treatment of coronavirus.

    According to reports, based on nanotechnology, Minerolytevir is a 5th generation medicine that has been registered by the Drug Regulation Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

    Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club, Dr Jan claimed that the medicine has no side-effects, is completely safe for human beings, and can even be used by a day-old child.

    “A patient diagnosed with COVID-19 can be cured within 10 days by using this medicine. Patients on ventilatory support can be saved by using it through nebulisation. Just one mist of spray on the face and other body parts saves a person for 3-4 hours in these crucial days of the pandemic,” he claimed.

    The Russian professor said he was the first scientist in the world to have invented a medicine for the treatment of coronavirus and claimed that numerous patients who had used his medicine had been cured, both in Pakistan as well as in Russia. He also requested the government to introduce his medicine in government hospitals to save precious lives, saying he has also invented 20 medicines, including that for the treatment of cancer.

    Dr Jan Alam has been given top national awards by the Russian government for his services and inventions in the field of medicine. He won the award for the Best Scientist in Pharmacology in Geneva in 2018, in Paris in 2019 Paris, and for his Minerolytevir in 2020, again in Paris.

  • Govt announces free vaccine for all citizens

    Govt announces free vaccine for all citizens

    The federal government has announced free coronavirus vaccine for all Pakistanis, saying the government will inoculate health workers and elderly people in the first phase.

    Dr Faisal Sultan, prime Minister’s aide on health, said that the government is eyeing procurement of at least 20 million vaccine doses in the first stage; however, only 1 million doses will be procured by March this year.

    He further said that the registration process for the vaccination is underway and the government would soon begin the drive once the vaccine doses arrive from China.

    Reports say China will provide 0.5 million vaccines by the end of this month free of cost, while more vaccines from China will arrive in Islamabad next month.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also talked about the procurement from the United Kingdom. He said the government was in talks with the UK to procure the vaccine developed by the British pharmaceutical company.

    So far, three firms, British firm Oxford-AstraZeneca, Chinese firm Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics, have asked Pakistan to buy their vaccine. Oxford-AstraZeneca and Sinopharm are already registered with Pakistan whereas CanSino is conducting phase-III trials in the country.

    Recently, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had expressed serious concerns over the government’s decision to ask provinces and the private sector to import the coronavirus vaccine.

    As per the details, with the Cabinet Committee on Procurement of COVID-19 Vaccine briefing Prime Minister Imran Khan on efforts being made to engage more pharmaceutical companies for procurement, HRCP had said that the government’s decision in this regard was not the right step.

    It may be noted that amid reports of a delay in the procurement of vaccine, some journalists claimed that the government was in no hurry to order the coronavirus vaccine as most of the senior government members had already been vaccinated against the deadly disease.