The pandemic and governance

The Covid-19 coronavirus crisis has not only baffled governments across the world but has also been a test of their governance skills. The virus has afflicted one-third of the world and around 2.6 billion people. In Pakistan, the number of coronavirus infections has jacked up to 1,860 with 25 deaths, as of March 31. Presently, Pakistan has the highest number of cases in South Asia, surpassing even India. In this battle, a comparative analysis of 100 countries reveals that those countries who took timely and firm decisions won, with China atop the pedestal.

Governance after all is all about quick decisions, efficiency, effectiveness and implementation within timelines. Assessing the situation, comprehending the problem and peeping into the future with the ability to decide are the traits of a statesman. Belated decisions — in a war or an emergency situation — lead nations to catastrophe. The leadership in China deftly handled the situation, requiring us to evaluate how it managed the impending disaster.

The Chinese government, sensing the spread of the pandemic, took an aggressive action to overcome the problem. In a campaign, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the virus as a “people’s war”. Of the many measures, the lockdown of tens of millions of people is believed to be the largest quarantine in history. It was considered essential to break the chain of transmission by blocking human to human contact. The move paid dividends, soon enabling the Chinese government to announce that the country had passed the peak of the corona epidemic with just a few new reported cases.

Simultaneously, Taiwan — having closely watched the coronavirus outbreak across the border — adopted an anti-coronavirus strategy by utilising a combination of early vigilance, proactive measures, and information sharing with the public, besides applying technology by analysing big data and online platforms. Comprehending the gravity of the situation, the government ensured an adequate supply of medical equipment, including face masks, for health professionals and the public. Taiwan’s government stopped exports of surgical face masks on January 24 while requesting local companies to step up production. And the result is that the daily production of the masks is set to reach 10 million soon.

Europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic. The tragic scenes concerning Italy, Spain, the UK and now the US among others tell us clearly that omission is the worst commission. The presence of Covid-19 in Italy and Spain was rather ignored, shrugged off as the usual flu. But once the virus penetrated into the community, the situation turned ugly and complex. The US and the UK had a similar attitude and are now facing the worst pandemic in recent history despite robust health systems. A delay in taking the virus seriously and taking strong, concrete and meaningful decisions resulted in a catastrophe.

As we, in Pakistan, analyse our disaster management, the obvious question is: why did we flounder while the news of the spread of the virus had surfaced in China in December 2019? We also had the news of the problem brewing up in Iran where thousands of Pakistani pilgrims were present. But in contrast to the policy of not bringing back Pakistani students that were stranded in China, the government allowed the Pakistani pilgrims in Iran to return without proper arrangements of quarantine at the Taftan border. The essentials of disaster management — preparedness, mitigation, transparency in information and community involvement — were missing. There was a criminal negligence at Taftan which will go down in the history of public health as an example of failure.

Hats off to the Sindh Chief Minister, who took the lead by aggressively addressing the issue, imposing a lockdown and mobilising all tiers of governance. His bold initiative and comments on the bungling at the Taftan border brought the severity of the problem to the surface, forcing the federal government to take stock of the situation. Even then no coherent response could be observed as the federal government is still dithering to impose a complete lockdown. The state of preparedness can be gauged from the fact that until recently, the government had no idea of even ensuring the availability of sanitisers and soaps in the country, let alone being aware of the need to import sufficient stocks of diagnostic kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical practitioners. Most of the hospitals across the country including in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir lack PPE, testing kits, disinfection spray, N95 masks, surgical gloves and ventilators. The doctors, nurses and paramedics performing duties in triage, quarantine zones, operation theatres and in emergency units are without protective gears. As a result, doctors and healthcare workers are at a high risk. It is suspected that presently at least 13 doctors have been infected with the coronavirus in Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi and Islamabad.

While dealing with the disaster, the Prime Minister may be having apprehensions that an effective lockdown is likely to bring the economic cycle to a standstill, resulting in the termination of millions of factory workers and daily-wage earners, thus making their lives even more miserable. But perhaps the PM and his team could not comprehend what would happen if the virus engulfs all sections of the population, resulting in immobilisation under the clouds of fear, chaos and anarchy.

It appears that in order to address this query, the PM found the solution in announcing a Corona Tiger Force to reach out to people. Engaging people is good but the effort is too little too late. Also, the connotation of tigers, generally used for young PTI workers, reflects a partisan attitude. It is no time for politics. The PM is for all and should be above party politics and take along all the stakeholders irrespective of their party affiliations.

In the current scenario, the sustainable management to control the pandemic lies in lockdown, quarantine, border closure, awareness, screening of patients, operational control rooms, protective gears, testing kits, disinfection sprays, N95 masks, surgical gloves and ventilators. In addition to these, there is the need for a taskforce comprising local competent technical experts and scientists to design and implement a proven public health action on a daily basis at the national level.

It is indeed a formidable challenge and needs an equally strong, visionary and valiant response. Popular politics can wait. Now is the time for action otherwise history will judge the present leadership very poorly. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2020.

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