Four people, including a surgeon and a medical technician, have fallen victim to haemorrhagic fever in Quetta.
Reports said a patient suffering from Congo virus was brought to Quetta from Afghanistan for surgery. He was being operated by senior surgeon Dr Mohammad Ayaz at a private hospital when he got infected with the virus as well. A medical technician who was assisting the surgeon also got infected.
He was identified as Imran. Dr Ayaz was immediately moved to Karachi for treatment, despite the fact that isolation wards have been established for such patients at Fatima Jinnah Hospital in Quetta. The technician, however, was being treated in an isolation ward at the hospital. Reports further said that another two patients of Congo virus were admitted to Fatima Jinnah Hospital.
Dr Aadam, the in-charge of the isolation ward, said that other two patients, including an Afghan refugee and a youth from Kuchlak, were also suffering down with Congo virus. He said that there was a possibility of more attendants and medical staff getting infected with the virus while treating patients. The doctor said Congo was a viral and dangerous disease and doctors in the hospital lacked proper equipments to protect themselves from it.
He said over the past four years, members of the staff had not been vaccinated. Meanwhile, Balochistan National Party on Friday staged a protest demonstration against the extra-judicial arrest of party workers and killing and dumping of bodies of Baloch missing persons. Around 200 party workers led by Central Secretary Information Agha Hasan Baloch marched from the party office and gathered outside the Quetta Press Club.
The speakers appealed to the international human rights organisations to take notice of what they called extra-judicial arrests and killings in the province.
