Prioritise doctors’ protection, says Pakistan Medical Association

Doctors face great risk of contracting coronavirus and can spread it to patients easily

KARACHI: Doctors' lives are at risk due to the shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE), warned Pakistan Medical Association (PMA).

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday, the PMA reiterated that doctors were working on the front lines in the war against COVID-19 and it was crucial that their personal safety is made a priority, as so many of them have fallen prey to coronavirus because of the non-availability of PPEs.

PMA secretary-general Dr SM Qaisar Sajjad said that the medical body had written a letter to the PM and the chief ministers of all provinces, requesting the provision of PPE for doctors, nurses and paramedics.

He further maintained that the PMA strongly suggested making the COVID-19 test mandatory for doctors on duty without PPEs. This would ensure that doctors diagnosed with the virus can be kept in isolation, preventing them from spreading it to patients and others, he explained.

Dr Sajjad further stated that doctors who tested negative for the virus should be provided PPE kits urgently, as they were at great risk of contracting it.

He added that doctors working with coronavirus patients were also facing increasing pressure from their families to quit their jobs due to the lack of protective equipment. He cautioned that if this were to happen, the results would be terrible and, therefore, protecting doctors was a serious issue at this stage.

He stated that the PMA was also trying to provide PPE kits to doctors who were serving the nation during this hard time. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2020.