Karachi, the biggest city of Pakistan, whose population is around 20 million, has only 76 ventilators or intensive care unit (ICU) beds at the seven public and private hospitals for serious patients who require life-support after contracting the coronavirus, The News reported on Wednesday.
Besides that, there are only 321 isolation beds at these seven hospitals in the city, where patients with mild to moderate symptoms are kept and in case of deterioration in their condition, stable patients are removed from the ventilator and serious patients are put on life support.
Sindh Department of Health officials and private hospitals said on Tuesday that for people in other cities of Sindh, there are hardly 105 ventilators at specialised wards for COVID-19 patients, adding that there were only 181 ventilators for such patients in the entire province.
Health department officials said the seven hospitals - Indus Hospital Karachi, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Ojha Campus of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) and Dr Ziauddin Hospital - are admitting serious patients, and, if required, they put critical patients on the ventilator.
Giving details of the COVID-19 isolation wards, the official said the Indus Hospital had a 20-bed isolation ward where 10 beds are equipped with ventilators, while the remaining 10 beds are high dependency unit (HDU) beds.
Besides that, there are only 321 isolation beds at these seven hospitals in the city, where patients with mild to moderate symptoms are kept and in case of deterioration in their condition, stable patients are removed from the ventilator and serious patients are put on life support.
Sindh Department of Health officials and private hospitals said on Tuesday that for people in other cities of Sindh, there are hardly 105 ventilators at specialised wards for COVID-19 patients, adding that there were only 181 ventilators for such patients in the entire province.
Health department officials said the seven hospitals - Indus Hospital Karachi, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Ojha Campus of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) and Dr Ziauddin Hospital - are admitting serious patients, and, if required, they put critical patients on the ventilator.
Giving details of the COVID-19 isolation wards, the official said the Indus Hospital had a 20-bed isolation ward where 10 beds are equipped with ventilators, while the remaining 10 beds are high dependency unit (HDU) beds.