Zubair Qureshi
There was a general feeling of anxiety among the doctors, nurses and visitors at the hospitals of twin cities on Thursday, particularly at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) where coronavirus patient is being treated, the atmosphere was marked by fear.
On Thursday, four more patients were admitted to the PIMS and according to the hospital spokesperson Dr Wasim Khwaja nothing could be confirmed for sure about those admitted. “We have sent their samples to the National Institute of health (NIH) for further verification and only after we receive the report, we shall be able to share something.”
About the one already admitted in the isolation ward of Pims, Dr Khwaja said he was being treated according to the protocol and his condition was improving. Those admitted are between 30 and 60 years of age group, he further said. About general mood of doctors, paramedical staff and patients at the Pims, he said they were scared and taking extra measures to save themselves from the killer virus.
Immediately after the confirmation of the two cases in Karachi and Islamabad, a huge demand was seen for respiratory masks.
Residents in twin cities rushed to pharmacies and medical stores to get respiratory masks, however, hardly they could find any. Majority of the pharmacies are reporting they have run out of stock. Even if they are lucky to have one, they had to pay extra amount to purchase it.
This added to the worries of the residents and in return they are seen giving vent their anger on social media urging the government to take action against hoarders and pharmacists who have either removed masks from their shelves or selling them at many times higher prices.
Not only in Islamabad, people in Karachi Lahore and Rawalpindi are also facing the same situation and pharmacies are selling them masks on much higher prices than the original.
A resident of Islamabad Ghulam Shabbir while demanding of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), police and other law-enforcement agencies to take action against the black marketers and hoarders said he had to travel the entire city in order to find masks and having travelled the city he could find only two boxes of respiratory masks.
The angry man asked the agencies responsible to check such price hikers and hoarders who keep raising the prices on their sweet will to take action against them.
While talking to Pakistan Observer, a resident of Islamabad’s Sector E-8 Ghulam Nabi said he was forced to get a mask against Rs80 that was earlier available for Rs 10.
