ISLAMABAD: Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho on Monday warned the federal and provincial governments against disastrous consequences of relaxing the lockdown, arguing that the country was yet to hit the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
While addressing a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Coronavirus Disease, which was chaired by National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaisar, she said that the predictive analysis suggests that the disease would reach its peak at the end of May. “Taking stock of the demographic situation, we would not be able to tackle the situation which could be disastrous if lockdown is relaxed,” she added.
Dr Azra said that there was a need for strict implementation of lockdown. “We should not be in a state of denial because speculation of immunity of Pakistanis against this disease is nothing but a myth. There is no immunity against the disease,” she said and apprised the committee that despite inadequate medical facilities and increasing number of cases, Sindh was trying its best to cope with the situation.
She said that the situation may worsen in the coming weeks, therefore, strict lockdown should be observed to curb the local transmission of the virus.
UNIFIED POLICY ON LOCKDOWN:
The participants of the meeting called for a unified policy on lockdown.
The participants agreed that Pakistan badly lacked protective gear and could not afford any lapses in handling the disease. The participants noted that the country has less than 10,000 ventilators while the testing capacity is also not much and is in the process of being increased.
The committee was briefed that the country would be pursuing a strategy of tracing, testing and quarantining to deal with infected persons. The committee was told that over 60 per cent infections were locally transmitted.
Qaiser urged members of all political parties to work together for a broad-based strategy to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Parliamentary representatives can bring awareness regarding this disease in their respective constituencies and there is a need to keep balance between health issues and economic challenges faced by the common people,” he said.
The speaker said that only representatives of the common man were capable of evolving broad-based strategy. He stressed the need for a unanimous narrative to counter the coronavirus pandemic. He also stressed the need for a follow-up mechanism in order to promptly get the recommendations of the committee implemented. The NA speaker constituted a sub-committee headed by Senator Syed Shibli Faraz to follow-up the recommendations of the committee.
Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid briefed the committee about the number of coronavirus tests conducted, positive cases, medical facilities available in the hospitals and isolation and quarantine centres established in Punjab.
Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman apprised the committee that 2,667 tests have been conducted out of which 265 came out positive. He asked for inclusion of destitute from GB in federal government’s Ehsaas Programme and Benazir Income Support Pgoramme (BISP).
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Minister Taimur Jhagra said that massive testing was required in the province since he feared that situation could get worst due to hidden cases. He said that provincial government had taken appropriate measures in every district of the province since it had presence of coronavirus in all of its districts.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) health minister and the chairman of Balochistan’s Standing Committee on Health apprised the committee about the measures initiated to control the coronavirus in their respective jurisdictions.
Special Assistants to Prime Minister on Health and Social Safety, Dr Zafar Mirza and Dr Sania Nishtar, also apprised the committee about the updates of their respective departments.
Dr Mirza said that need assessment was underway to provide protective gear to all health professionals. He informed the committee that standard operating procedures (SOPs) were revised in recent meeting of National Command and Operations Committee (NCOC) and now every health professional would be provided Level-1 protective equipment and a massive tracking, testing and quarantine strategy will be implemented in the coming days.
Dr Sania said that lockdown strategy needs to be revisited in coming days since the country’s economy cannot bear perpetual lockdown. She informed the committee about the cash disbursement to the destitute under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme.
The members of the opposition appreciated the measures taken by the provinces in coordination with the federal government. They were of the view that a unanimous strategy for lockdown must be evolved to avoid confusion.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while responding to the suggestions of the committee, said that that leaders of the political parties and religious scholars should come forward and help the government devise a policy for religious congregations and prayers during Ramzan since statistics project that peak of the virus might coincide with the holy month, therefore, health guidelines need to be strictly observed. He suggested that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman should step come forward on national television and guide the masses.
He suggested that financial experts should be invited to the next meeting for their input. He further said that his party was strong proponent of the provincial autonomy, however, strategy for coordination between provinces and federal government be devised to deal with national emergencies.
While concluding the meeting, the NA speaker appreciated the efforts of the governments of all provinces and autonomous regions and assured that all the stranded members of Tableeghi Jamaat would be sent to their homes before Ramzan. He thanked the members of the committee for their valuable input and decided to convene next meeting of the parliamentary committee on next Monday.
