LAHORE: Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Kh Salman Rafiq has directed Health Department to take precautionary measures for protecting people from corona virus found in Middle East and Saudi Arabia.  Chairing a meeting of medical experts regarding eradication of corona virus at the committee room of Directorate General Health on Saturday, he directed carrying out screening of passengers coming from Saudi Arabia at airports with the cooperation of federal government.
Parliamentary Secretary Health Kh Imran Nazir, DG Health Dr Zahid Pervaiz, Additional Secretary Health (Technical) Dr Salman Shahid, Expert Epidemic Diseases, Institute of Public Health Prof Farkhanda Kokab, Administrator Sheikh Zayed Hospital Dr Akbar Hussain, Prof Talha Mahmood of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Head of Centre of Excellence Microbiology Punjab University Dr Idrees Khan, Director Health (CDC) Dr Ahmed Afifi, Programme Coordinator of World Health Organization Dr Jamshed, EDO Health Dr Zulfiqar Ali and other concerned officers attended the meeting.
Dr Zahid Pervaiz told the meeting that sample of a patient from Sialkot under treatment in Sheikh Zayed Hospital was found negative and there was no patient of corona virus. He said that instructions have been issued to EDOs Health and administration of hospitals in all districts to take measures for protecting people from corona virus. It was told that corona virus was also found in animals in Saudi Arabia and Middle East. He said that this disease was found in the patients suffering from cough and flue and was called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) which also affects animals particularly camel, sheep and goat.
Kh Salman Rafiq stressed the need for providing guidance to the people intending to perform Haj and Umrah. Therefore, concerned Federal Government departments should be contacted to create awareness among the Hujjaj during their training. He constituted two teams comprising experts to prepare recommendations for the treatment of patients and eradication of the disease.