ISLAMABAD, July 27(ABC): All hospitals across Pakistan are taking necessary steps to deal with monkeypox after directives were issued from the country’s top health body, Minister for Health Qadir Patel said Wednesday.
The minister’s comments came during a special meeting of the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination convened at the directives of Patel after the World Health Organisation (WHO) imposed an emergency on monkeypox.
The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency, the WHO’s highest level of alert, the organisation’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said last week.
The WHO label — a “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)” — is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.
In today’s meeting, the federal health minister said that strict vigilance is being done related to monkeypox, and no cases of the virus have been reported so far in the country.
“All hospitals have been instructed to employ necessary measures for dealing with monkeypox,” the health minister said, noting that the virus has been detected in 75 countries across the globe.
Patel added that the ministry of health is constantly overseeing all matters related to monkeypox.