Lahore hospitals stretched to capacity as virus cases continue to surge

An isolation ward for coronavirus patient at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute with the capacity of housing 105 patients. (Photo Courtesy: Government of Punjab)

• Scarcity follows spike in infections due to eased restrictions before Eid, officials say
• Residents complain of inflated cost of treatment at private hospitals

LAHORE: Lahore’s hospitals are filled to capacity with doctors working round-the-clock to treat coronavirus patients while one government-designated facility runs out of beds for new patients, hospital officials told Arab News on Sunday.
“The number of COVID-19 patients has spiked in the last three weeks,” Tazeen Qureshi, spokesperson for Pakistan Kidney and Livery Institute (PKLI) said. “All beds of the PKLI are full, and we are unable to accept any more patients.”
The facility is one of the 13 public and 19 private sector hospitals designated by the government of COVID-19 patients.
However, following the reported spike in infections in the eastern city and the capital of the populous Punjab province, authorities said that the facilities are insufficient to treat the massive influx of coronavirus cases.
As of Sunday, the number of infections reached 98,943 across the country, with Punjab – which comprises 36 districts – taking the top spot with 37,090 cases. Out of these, 18,161 are from Lahore alone with 253 deaths out of the total count of 683 reported from the province as of Sunday.
Qureshi attributes the uptick in infections to the relaxed restrictions a few weeks ahead of and after Eid in Pakistan on May 23.
“One week before Eid, we had one-third of our capacity’s empty beds. But soon after Eid, the patients’ numbers were increasing every day, and today (Sunday) we are unable to accommodate even one more patient,” he added.
However, a surge in infections and limited facilities are not the only issues concerning residents with several complaining of the exponential costs associated with the treatment of the deadly disease which varies from Rs 30,000 to Rs300,000 per day depending on the location and quality of services provided.
“My father was admitted to a private hospital with the (coronavirus) disease, and the hospital charged Rs391,705 from us for nine days. My father died after nine days, but the hospital charged us another Rs14,000 for preparing and handing over the dead body,” Nargis, a resident of Lahore told Arab News. 
Hospital officials, for their part, said they are waiting to exhale.
“In the beginning, we were getting patients with low intensity, but now the patients approaching the hospitals are in serious conditions because they spend many days at home with symptoms. So far, we have a capacity of accommodating those patients, but the increasing numbers may cause difficulties,” Dr. Asad Aslam, Chief Executive of Mayo Hospital told Arab News.
According to a report submitted to Punjab Chief Minister, Sardar Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar, on June 1 by the provincial government ‘s health department, which made rounds in local media, the number of infections are expected to cross the 700,000 mark by the end of June.
It added that not a single area in the province was “disease-free,” urging CM Buzdar to impose a complete lockdown for at least four weeks.