- In the midst of a pandemic
Coronavirus has taken root in Pakistan and is spreading like wildfire with the number of confirmed patients rising sharply on a daily basis. All such patients have to be quarantined and so far, efforts to do so have been abysmal. Taftan, where most of the traffic from Iran came in, was a catastrophe, no matter how much Prime Minister Imran Khan tries to paint it as a success. Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab has been a similar failure with reports of dangerous conditions in the University where patients are being kept. Yesterday, allegedly on the incitement of a local PTI MPA, patients at the Sukkur quarantine facility, the hotbed for the cases in Sindh, the only province that had presumably done a relatively better job, broke out and dispersed into the on-looking crowds. Although less dramatic, faux pas have also been reported in more urban cities. There are credible reports of delayed admission of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus at government hospitals In Lahore. Those who have been admitted in a timelier fashion have complained of lack of hygiene, and inadequate medical attention and sustenance. Private laboratories have to report all positive coronavirus tests, with names and addresses, to the authorities who then proceed to the patient’s residence, police van and ambulance in tow, to escort them to a quarantine facility. Those who are better informed about how the virus progresses and that milder cases can be treated at home, are avoiding getting testing done so as not to go through the same ordeal that has been revealed by several families in the city.
In the absence of a complete enforced lockdown and looking at the trajectory of confirmed cases reported so far, this is all set to become a full-blown crisis that will put extreme pressure on an already fragile and ill-equipped healthcare system. The technique that has worked in several countries is to buy time by containing the spread of the disease so that there is minimum pressure on hospitals. Clearly that is not happening. Very few people are self-isolating, putting potential high-risk patients, those with pre-existing conditions, in danger. Time is against the government, figuring out quarantining is only the first step and unfortunately the government is even failing at that, which is increasingly making the populace doubt its ability to control this unprecedented outbreak. It will only get worse if the response continues to be such as it has been in the past ten days.
