Second wave can last longer, fears PMA

Says people never followed SOPS and the govt failed to implement them

The second wave of coronavirus outbreak can last longer as low temperature favours the transmission, said the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) in a statement on Monday.

Raising concerns over the number of infections during the second wave of the pandemic in the country, the PMA maintained that people never followed the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and the government failed to implement them.

“More people might be infected during winter as they prefer to stay together with closed windows, the lack of ventilation increases the chances of infection,” the statement said. “Those already suffering from nose, throat, bronchus, lung diseases, high-blood pressure, diabetes and cancer are more at risk.”

PMA maintained that the second wave is also turning out to be deadlier for doctors as 45 practitioners have succumbed to the virus in the second wave.

“The situation is very alarming,” the statement read. “Unfortunately doctors are not getting proper protection and they are also neglecting their safety.”

The association demanded of the government to provide the Shuhada package to the families of the doctors who lost their lives while fighting the pandemic as they are facing economic hardship.

Urging the federal government to make a uniform policy for the implementation of SOPs, PMA suggested that the government and opposition keep politics aside during this crisis.

“Government should impose heavy fines or punish the people not following SOPs,” it suggested.

Denouncing PMC

Moreover, PMA reiterated its reservations about the Pakistan Medical Council (PMC) and said that it had been demanding of the government to strengthen the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) as a democratic, autonomous and transparent body to regulate medical education in the country.

On the contrary, statement noted, the government passed the PMC and Medical Tribunal Act.

“Now PMC seems to be a mess, and under bad governance,” read the statement. “Instead of improving, it is continuously deteriorating, while doctors and medical students are facing severe problems.”

The association lashed out at the PMC for wasting six months of students and then holding a ‘flawed’ Medical and Dental College Admission Test, where many students who took the test were marked absent.

Furthermore, it mentioned that the syllabus for the test was also changed and it was based on the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, which troubled pupils of other provinces.

Due to the mess created by the PMC, the Sindh government had planned to establish its own Sindh Medical Commission, hence Punjab will also form its commission, which would be disastrous for medical education in the country, it added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2020.