Pandemic threat

It comes as no surprise that in a world struggling to cope with the coronavirus, Pakistan's healthcare system, which is known not to be top of the line, should fail to grapple with the enormity of the task. The worst lapse has been the failure to manage suspected infected carriers at our borders, of which the Taftan border with Iran, one of the worst hit countries by the pandemic, presents the worst example. Travellers from Iran comprise overwhelmingly religious tourists, most of whom may have visited the holy city of Qom, considered one of the worst centres from which the virus has enveloped Iran. At the Taftan border crossing, the returnees were herded together without any precautionary measures and then some of them allowed to travel to their homes in the rest of the country. The alarm was raised by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, whose province so far has reported the highest number of cases. An interesting sidelight on this issue was thrown up when reports said Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Zafar Mirza was pulled up by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan for travelling to Taftan to oversee arrangements for the quarantine of returnees from Iran on the grounds that this was a provincial remit. This reflects a failure on the part of the PM to grasp the gravity of the problem, which potentially is not less than a national catastrophe, requiring all authorities, federal and provincial, to pull together to combat the threat without quibbling about jurisdiction. The pandemic's rapid spread globally after it first emerged in Wuhan, China, should have alerted the Pakistani authorities to the danger. However, so far, with the exception of Sindh whose Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah has led from the front, authorities in the rest of the country have responded to the crisis haltingly, with delays, and despite some efforts, inadequately. Hospitals throughout the country appear unprepared for the possibility of being inundated with coronavirus cases, to the detriment of these institutions' ability to treat the other patients that throng their corridors, particularly public sector hospitals. Doctors and nursing staff in many of these institutions have been protesting inadequate safety equipment such as protective suits. The markets have seen a radical drop in customers, while some panic has persuaded people to stock up on things of everyday use in anticipation of the total lockdown of public places, which so far is at best, with the exception of Sindh, a partial and patchy measure. Unfortunately, as often happens in such situations, some unscrupulous people have been trying to exploit the crisis by hoarding, smuggling and overpricing items much in demand, such as facemasks and sanitizers. It is by now almost axiomatic that the impact on the global economy (and Pakistan's) could tips the world into recession. Although some emergency funding on soft terms is being offered by the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and international financial institutions; the former two having committed to providing US dollars 238 million and 350 million, respectively, it remains to be seen in Pakistan's case whether adequate funds are available to make the necessary arrangements of equipment (especially testing kits and ventilators) to prevent a major health catastrophe.
It seems obvious by now that the government needs to arrange the wherewithal on a countrywide basis for testing for the virus, quarantining those discovered to have been infected, and find the right balance between the need to ensure public safety by a lockdown and the day-to-day needs of the public. Businesses are beginning to close down to prevent gathering people within the same space. While this could entail some hardship for the poor and other classes of working people, social safety nets may have to be put in place and expanded to mitigate economic hardship. Finally, it is citizens who must rise to the challenge by practicing social distancing and avoiding public spaces and unnecessary travel outside their homes. This unprecedented global pandemic may change forever the way we live our lives, but there is hope if we learn from the success of China, the country originally struck by the coronavirus, in bringing the pandemic's spread to a halt and rolling it back.