LAHORE: The Punjab government on Tuesday announced that a trial of potential Covid-19 treatment Remdesivir — comprising of 1,000 participants — will start in the province soon.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said: “We will decide, based on the results, if the drug should be made a part of the standard practice or not. The drug is controlled at the moment, it is not even sold by the company in the open market.”
She advised people against using herbal medicines to treat the coronavirus. “We do not know if it will work or not and it may have some adverse side effects,” she said.
Addressing concerns regarding hospitals reaching full capacity amid a sudden surge in cases, the minister assured that there is “no need for people to panic”, adding that there is enough capacity in the province’s hospitals to deal with Covid-19 patients.
She said that 42 per cent of ventilators and 63.2 per cent of intensive care unit beds are currently occupied. However, she said that “patients cannot go to whichever hospital they wish since beds might be fully occupied there. This is not a wish programme where you can just go to the hospital you want [without inquiring about bed availability]”.
Rashid added that the Punjab government would soon launch patient information desks in all hospitals so the relatives of admitted patients could be kept updated about their condition.
