Coronavirus patients who want to avoid public hospitals - Punjab has a plan!

In an audio recording, circulating on WhatsApp in Lahore, a woman can be heard narrating a horrible ordeal of being nabbed by officials of the Punjab government and then shifted to a public hospital without basic facilities.

The woman, who identified herself as Syeda Dania Ali, had recently arrived from London to Lahore. On landing, she had herself tested for coronavirus at a private laboratory in the city. Her test came back positive.

Next, Ali recounts how she was taken by officials of the Punjab Health Department from one government-run hospital to another. When quarantined for treatment, she added that she was not provided food or a blanket despite repeated requests.

The message has created panic in Lahore, where to date there are 15 confirmed cases of coronavirus. City residents, who Geo.tv spoke to on condition of anonymity, said they were afraid of being tested and going through the same nightmare as Ali.

But Mussarrat Jamshed Cheema, the spokesperson of the Punjab government, rubbished the claim and calls the woman “careless” for creating unnecessary panic. “This is not the time to complain and be difficult,” Cheema told Geo.tv, over the phone, “We are all doing whatever we can to help patients.”

The spokesperson further added that she understood that a certain section of the society, from the upper and upper-middle class, who are used to services at private hospitals will not be satisfied with the arrangement at public centers, which have been designated for coronavirus patients in Lahore.

In order to address that, Cheema went on, a 880-room private facility has already been set up. Separately, the Punjab government has reached out to private hotels and hospitals to commit portions of their buildings for infected patients.

“Hameed Latif in Lahore, has dedicated their entire seventh-floor as an isolation ward,” the spokesperson explained, “We are also in touch with other large hospitals in the province to do the same.”