This is the high time for the country’s leadership to learn something from its past mistakes
ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus has no borders or boundaries and more than a million cases have been reported across the world. There is no denying the fact that the battle is a larger one. Health workers across the globe and across the country have contracted the virus while working on the frontline to defeat this epidemic.
Even in most developed countries, paramedics have threatened to quit because they are running out of PPEs, reflecting the tremendous strain on them while working hours and hours to protect their critical patients and in turn endangering their own lives. Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, has suggested that this virus can spread through the air via normal breathing from person to person. But the problem is much more serious in poorer nations like Pakistan due to the dilapidated condition of the healthcare system.
With more than 4,000 reported cases of Covid-19 countrywide, what is disastrous here is that doctors and paramedics in Quetta clashed with the police leading to the arrest of many doctors, many of whom were wounded as well. These doctors took to the streets in protest against the unavailability of PPEs and medical kits for healthcare workers across Baluchistan. The representative of YDA warned of quitting their duties if not provided with the necessary equipment to fight the pandemic. Recently, the Balochistan government purchased PPEs from the Rs2 billion grant released by the federal government, reportedly on exorbitant prices. This has further raised eyebrows on the lack of political will.
There is no denying the fact that this novel war against Covid-19 cannot be fought without these national heroes; else the cost of the uncontrollable spread of the deadly virus would be much higher. This is the high time for the country’s leadership to learn something from its past mistakes and take productive measures to invest in human development and public welfare.
Ali Jan Buledi
Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2020.
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