I can’t breathe!

Govt has been drumming gravity of Covid-19 situation but unfortunately its energies are all focused on impeding PDM

The death of seven patients due to a shortage of oxygen cylinders at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), one of the top hospitals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, sent shock waves not only across Pakistan but also all over the world. Heart rending scenes were observed when the news of oxygen shortage reached the relatives and attendants who ran amok begging the administration to manage the oxygen supply, but to no avail. Had these patients been VIPs or related to some influential person, the hospital administration would not have been so callous in managing the situation. But alas, those who died as they could not breathe happened to be the children of a lesser god.

Management is the art of getting things done by organisational skills. In public service delivery, it also requires mandatory compliance with policies and related standard operating procedures. Regular feedback from all concerned stakeholders is needed to ensure robustness of the system. The minister of health, however, is said to be good at colourful presentations, issuing rosy statements in the social media and performing lip service.

If the honourable minister is ever keen on taking credit for advertised reforms, then he should also be accountable for the tragic incident at KTH to his extent which reflected nothing but criminal negligence, professional misconduct and apathy, warranting registration of criminal cases. What concerns me the most is that after I shared my statement on the incident among members of the intelligentsia, the common response was the despondent “who cares”. This typifies the general perception of a complete loss of faith in the system with no hope of justice or improvement. Such feelings of helplessness in societies, if studied deeply, have been precursors to a public revolution, and should therefore not be taken lightly. Studies on the rise of the Taliban in Swat also suggest that feelings of deprivation, helplessness and gaps in governance were at the heart of that movement.

Through various write-ups in the past, I have been consistently pointing out gaps in governance with a special emphasis upon the need for good governance in dealing with the raging pandemic. It was stressed that a pandemic, being a disaster, should be dealt with the essentials of disaster management by giving importance to preparedness and mitigation of the sufferings of those affected. Quick decisions, efficiency, effectiveness and implementation of policies within timelines are the hallmarks of “good governance”. Assessment of the situation, comprehension of the problem and forecast with a demonstrable ability to make timely decisions are the traits of a good leader. Belated decisions in a war or emergencies result in catastrophes.

The government has been drumming the gravity of the Covid-19 situation but unfortunately its energies are all focused on impeding the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) while service delivery in hospitals has been left to the dictates of fate and malfunctioning administration. The KTH incident reflects the utter failure of the government in terms of preparedness and mitigation of the sufferings of the affected. This also speaks volumes about the ineffectiveness of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) which appear to be merely confined to issuing bulletins and addressing press conferences.

The new corona wave has added to the number of seriously affected patients requiring hospital admission. But investigations reveal that the three main hospitals of Peshawar do not have enough beds to cope with the rising number of patients and consequently the hospitals are avoiding admitting patients. The gravity of the situation warranted establishing dedicated camp hospitals in big cities like Peshawar but to add insult to the injury, the biggest hospital of Peshawar, the Lady Reading Hospital, is almost closed due to internal managerial disputes.

The worsening pandemic situation requires increased number of tests and testing centres but only Khyber Medical University has got the testing facility. This has not only multiplied the workload on the university but also test results are not given on time. Due to a lack of testing facilities for Covid-19, a vast majority of population remains uncovered. Astonishingly, all the big hospitals, medical colleges, and even general universities all over the province have got qualified personnel but they have not been provided testing equipment. Good governance puts resources to the optimum utilisation, but here we are being wasteful of our resources.

The conduct of the government after the tragic incident has been shameful. The initial inquiry was carried out by the Board of Governors, whose members themselves were to be held accountable. No wonder the buck was conveniently passed to the company for delay in the supply of oxygen. The fact on the ground is that the contract had expired a long time ago which betrays the level of maladministration in the wake of a disaster-like situation. The tragic incident has also fully exposed the much-trumpeted health management system of the provincial government.

A few months ago, in the United States, a young black man, George Floyd, suspected of theft and fraud, was arrested by the police. During the arrest, the restraining action of the policemen resulted in the words, “I can’t breathe” being uttered by the suspect who later died of the restraining hold. The incident sparked a vociferous movement that not only took the country by storm but also spread to many countries in Europe. Earlier, a similar incident in 2014 had popularised the Black Lives Matter movement and the song “I Can’t Breathe”. After seven innocent patients died in a Pakistani hospital crying “we can’t breathe” the civil society cannot let the situation continue as business as usual.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2020.

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