Coronavirus: Pakistan reels under severe crisis; fatalities rise, hospitals turn away patients

Islamabad [Pakistan], November 28 : With 45 Covid-related deaths in one day, Pakistan's tally of the pandemic fatalities jumped to 7,942 on Saturday.
Citing data by National Command and Operation Center, Dunya News reported that more than 3,000 persons were tested positive for Coronavirus in last 24 hours.
As the second wave of the virus sweeps most of the countries, Pakistan reels under severe crisis amid lack of infrastructure and crippled health care system.
Authorities have imposed new restrictions- restricting public gatherings and making masks mandatory even as intensive care units swell up and hospitals turn away Covid patients.
The Punjab province has overtaken Sindh in the number of casualties.
There are 170,206 coronavirus cases in Sindh; 117,898 in Punjab; 46,604 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; 17,046 in Balochistan and close to 30,000 in capital Islamabad.
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir remains one of the severely neglected regions in the absence of a robust health care system and dropping temperature. While PoK has 6,556 cases, there are 4,619 Covid patients in the occupied Gilgit Baltistan.
Experts say Pakistan needs to focus on ramping up testing and improving the medical system, which remains rusty due to political disturbances and rampant corruption in procuring health care facilities.
In a study by The Lancet, Pakistan ranks 154 out of 195 countries in terms of health care system performance.
With a mere 2% of its GDP allocated for total health expenditures, Pakistan has failed to maintain proper healthcare quality and accessibility.