Covid-19 has depicted the real image of our healthcare system. It has forced the world to acknowledge the fact that they need more advancement in scientific research rather than the military. Pakistan has registered over 157,000 corona cases, it has already surpassed China, and the world health organization estimates that the case will exceed 2,00,000 by the end of June. Nobody knows how many Pakistanis are expected to die until the shrouds are counted. Pakistan has left no stone unturned to curb the spread of virus via its broken health care system. The economic and social impact of the pandemic is huge for a country that is already lurching from one crisis to another.
Pakistan is facing acute shortage of ventilators because hospitals are overwhelmed due to sharp increase in the number of cases. Hospitals are running short of beds. A staggering increase in the cases has underscored the need to reinforce the lockdown because people are making light of precautionary measures and the ramification could be more dangerous as expected. Situation is getting worse and nothing is yet clear about its denouement.
Equally disquieting is the fact that the numbers of doctors as well as health workers, over 2,200, have been infected due to inadequate supply of personal protective equipment. Closing of maternity wards in Islamabad and KPK, staff members have been diagnosed with covid-19, could further exacerbate the grim situation. Paying tribute to front line soldiers is not enough. Its government’s responsibility to do a better job to protect the health care workers as they are protecting us.
Dr. Seemi Jamali, the head of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center in Karachi, said “We are already getting more serious patients than before. It would go even worse, and we would lose more precious lives in case of the herd immunity”. Putting millions of lives in danger by just frisking the small word herd immunity_ more people are infected by virus, they will ultimately develop antibodies against the virus_ is an imprudent decision. Government has left people to fend for themselves.
We are a far cry from advanced research and technology. Sindh health minister says that they don’t have enough microbiologists for screening. This statement accentuates the importance of scientific studies. The developing countries are using their bag of tricks to make the vaccine and we are still struggling to increase our testing capacity. New Zealand hits zero active coronavirus cases.
Indeed, female leaders around the world have won praise for their handling of the crisis. Women’s leadership prove more capable to deal with such global crises.
According to statistics, Pakistan’s spending on healthcare is just 2.9% of GDP, that is just a drop in the ocean. Another obvious issue is that we are already dealing with the local epidemics such as Hepatitis C, Dengue. Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan, is still busy to curb the polio virus whereas other countries have completely eradicated it.
The long and short of the matter is that such unprecedented crisis demand unprecedented measures. It is the harsh reality that we have to wait for such pandemics to expose the shortcoming of our health care system. It is right time to realize that how important it was to have a better health care infrastructure. More attention and funds would have been allocated towards health care and scientific research and development. The pandemic has shaken us from our endless slumber and we should do little more than try, in this grim scenario, to flatten the curve. “Nothing will come of nothing” William Shakespeare, King Lear.
Nawab Ali
Shadakot
