10,000 doctors, medical staff to be hired to deal with coronavirus: CM

LAHORE, Mar 24 (APP):Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Tuesday said that the total number of coronavirus patients was 265 in Punjab out of which 176 patients were quarantined in DG Khan while 59 patients in Lahore.

Similarly, 12 in Gujrat, 7 in Gujranwala, 3 in Jhelum, 2 each in Rawalpindi and Multan and 1 each in Faisalabad and Mandi Bahauddin, he added.

Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar was briefing the media through video link about the decisions made in the 28th Cabinet Meeting, here.

“We appreciate the role being played by medical teams in the treatment of coronavirus patients in Punjab,” he said.

Usman Buzdar said all cabinet members including himself had announced to donate their one month salary to chief minister’s fund for corona control.

Meanwhile, he said the Punjab government had released Rs 11 billion to the Health department and the approval had been given in the cabinet meeting.

Two billion rupees had been given to PDMA besides providing 600 million rupees to all districts. Punjab cabinet had also endorsed the decision of giving one billion rupees to the Balochistan government, he added.

He said that the meeting decided to start distribution of Zakat one month earlier and recommendations were being forwarded to the federal government in this regard while the Bait-ul-Maal funds were being released for early distribution.

The chief minister said that a committee had been constituted to review decrease in fee of private schools during holidays as before time summer holidays were being announced in schools. The committee would submit its recommendations in seven days to take further steps, he added.

Similarly, the CM said, a committee had been constituted under Law Minister Raja Basharat to contact parliamentary parties of the opposition so that joint work could be done at this difficult hour.

The cabinet had also given principle approval to the draft of The Punjab Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Ordinance, 2020, he said and added that three testing laboratories would be upgraded to level-3 in Lahore and approval had been given to establish new level-3 labs in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, DG Khan, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur. Rs. 620 million had been approved for it, he added.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said the cabinet granted approval to hire the services of 10,000 doctors, health professionals, paramedical staff while services of retired doctors would also be obtained.

Approval had been given to provide Rs 0.8 million as financial aid to the heirs of deceased coronavirus patients, he added. He said the Punjab government was working on an economic package to facilitate the masses and the finance minister would give a detailed briefing in a next few days. Meanwhile, he said, the Punjab government had also forwarded its recommendations to the federal government and Prime Minister Imran Khan would announce the economic package of the federal government.

The chief minister said that cabinet approved the amendment in local bodies act and agreed to delay local bodies elections for nine months keeping in view the prevailing situation. For this, an ordinance was being issued because May 5 was the final date of holding local bodies election, he added.

Chief Secretary presented a contingency plan which was approved by the cabinet.

The chief minister said that ministers had been assigned duties in districts to take steps for dealing with coronavirus. The meeting directed the Health department to complete the procurement of necessary health material as soon as possible.

To a question, the chief minister emphasized that implementation on the steps being taken for safety from coronavirus would be ensured at every cost as section 144 was imposed but home delivery of eatables and medicines and the business of raw material used in the making of sanitizer etc. would not be affected and in case of any problem, the administration could be approached.

To another question, he said that SOPs had been issued for mosques and advanced steps were being taken in mosques.

To a question, he clarified that it was not curfew nor lockdown but steps had been taken by the government to protect the lives of the people and the services of the Pakistan Army had also be acquired under Article 245.

Provincial Ministers Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Raja Basharat, Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan, Hashim Jawan Bakht and Secretary Information were also present.