Covid spread: doctors warn against lowering guard

The majority of doctors in Pakistan have advised the people to continue taking precautionary measures in view of coronavirus pandemic and said although the numbers of patients have declined the threat of the outbreak making a comeback remains.

Doctors have called on the government to take strong action until coronavirus is brought under control.

At least 58% of doctors are dissatisfied with the provision of personal protection equipment (PPEs), however, they described the supply of ventilators in hospitals as satisfactory.

Overall, doctors are satisfied with Pakistan’s response to the epidemic said the findings of a joint survey by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) and Gallup Pakistan.

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This was the first national survey of doctors and medical professionals in Pakistan, which polled more than 400 male and female doctors from the four provinces.

The purpose of the survey was to find out the opinion of doctors about the epidemic, the facilities available to medical staff and strategies for dealing with it.

Questions were asked to doctors about lockdown, provision of PPEs for doctors, availability of ventilators in hospitals, national response to the epidemic, media and public perception of doctors, responsibility for safety of doctors and overall performance.

Almost 66% of doctors demanded that the lockdown should continue until the situation improves. At least 58% of doctors described the supply of masks, gowns, protective shields and gloves as unsatisfactory.

Around 37% of nurses and 46% of technical staff and 51% of other medical staff said the lack of safety equipment was a problem.

The majority of doctors seem satisfied with the Pakistani response to the corona virus, the provision of ventilators in hospitals and the quality of safety equipment available.

However, doctors in Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan called the government’s measures and overall response to providing facilities to patients inadequate.

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Another 76% of doctors believe that the entire responsibility for their safety lies with the government.

Moreover, 66% of doctors think that the media unjustifiably criticizes doctors while four out of 10 doctors feel that people do not respect them.

The overall performance of doctors and nurses in the last two months has been described as satisfactory but the performance of the hospital management has been rated very poor.

PIMA Central President Prod Muhammad Afzal Mian said that the views and concerns of healthcare workers regarding coronavirus provide the best opportunity for policy makers to adopt better planning strategies.

The survey provides evidence-based data on the difficulties, pressures, lack of safety equipment and other issues facing healthcare professionals. In their light of the information gathered through the survey, the government and relevant agencies will get help to analyse.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2020.