LARKANA:Swab samples of 83 pilgrims quarantined at the Quarantine Centre established at Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU), Areeja Campus, have been sent to Karachi for analysis on Saturday which according to the reliable sources have reached there.
These 83 pilgrims included 61 males, five females and 17 children. These persons were brought here directly from Taftan border in Balochistan in coaches. According to the officials of the health department, 43 out of these 83 persons belong to Larkana district, 22 are from Shikarpur and seven from Shahdadkot, one each from Khanewal (Punjab), Sanghar, Kotri and Jamshoro, two each from Hyderabad and Gujranwala (Punjab) and three from Dadu district.
Last night due to mistake committed by authorities, the pilgrims were counted 83 but when paramedics staff checked their case sheets they found them to be 88, a difference of five cases was detected which created lot of misunderstanding. After physical verification of the isolated pilgrims the total number of pilgrims was found to be 83 but five case sheets were also issued to the drivers and cleaners of the coaches who brought the pilgrims here but they left the Centre.
Focal Person, Dr. Ershad Hussain Kazmi, who is also CMCH Medical Superintendent, confirmed while talking to this scribe on Saturday that samples had reached Karachi’s private hospital and result was expected here within 24 hours. He said that majority of CMCH doctors and other staff was posted to work at the Centre but cooperation of PPHI, IHS and DHO had also been extended to the Centre to manage it in smooth manner after the directives of the Health Department. He said that the management and control of the centre was with CMCH.
He said they had not found any symptoms during preliminary examination of the pilgrims so far among any of them. He added ‘we will have to wait for their test results’. He said that one suspected pilgrim Sudheer Gopang was admitted to Isolation Ward of Chandka Hospital whose report had been determined negative, hence, he had been discharged and allowed to go home.
Meanwhile, credible sources told this scribe that quarantined pilgrims also brought 20 pigeons from Iran out of which five had died today. These sources said that they at the very outset thought that these pigeons must also be carriers of deadly coronavirus but when the matter was taken up at highest level with the relevant health authorities, their experts said that pigeons cannot carry the virus.