Justified demands

Being at the forefront in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, doctors, nurses, lab technicians and all those associated with the medical profession are fully justified in asking for personal protection equipment, financial privilege, health insurance cover, and martyr package for those losing their lives while serving the ailing humanity, and separate wards for medics and paramedics suffering from the deadly virus. On Monday, doctors and nurses working at government hospitals in Sindh staged demonstrations across the province to press for their demands, and warned that protests would continue till their demands were met. The protests were organised under the auspices of the Sind Health Grand Alliance, an umbrella organisation of various associations of doctors, nurses and paramedics.

The demands are justified due to the fact that healthcare providers themselves are at risk of contracting the Covid-19 illness. So far many doctors and nurses have died from the coronavirus and many are undergoing treatment across the country. However, no exact figures for infections or fatalities among medical practitioners are available publicly. This is a dangerous failing on the part of our official statisticians considering the fact that a proper strategy cannot be formulated without reliable data. This applies to all spheres of life, and more so to healthcare. Medical specialists and government planners can only grope in the dark if reliable data is not available. This could and often leads to wrong planning and resultantly undesirable consequences.

Young consultants have also announced that they will neither attend out-patients departments nor would they perform surgeries if they were not provided with PPE. They pointed out that social distancing and other measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were seldom adhered to at OPDs. Neglected and sick medical practitioners can only worsen the already grave coronavirus situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2020.

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