Since Wednesday evening, Pakistan, especially its largest city, Karachi, which is also the commercial capital of the country, is in a grip of fear of the deadly Coronavirus. The government announced the diagnosis of two patients affected by Coronavirus, one each in Karachi and Islamabad.
The provincial Sindh government has further added to the fear among common people as the provincial government announced the closure of all the schools across the province for remaining two days of the week (Thursday and Friday). TV channels have further created a scare among kids and families due to news of school closures. The Balochistan government which has already closed down the border with Iran has also announced the closure of schools in the province till March 15. There is an emergency in border districts of Balochistan and Special Assitant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza held a press conference along with Balochistan Chief Minister on the coronavirus issue on Wednesday evening.
The profiteers in Karachi are exploiting the situation as medical masks have disappeared from the city’s medical stores and those sellers are charging a heavy price for each mask. Although it has become our national character that in case of emergencies traders try to swindle money through hook and crook and hoardings. We just saw it last week when in the Keamari area 14 people lost their lives due to the release of a mysterious toxic gas and marks became costly in the area.
Although only one case of Coronavirus has been reported in Karachi, who had reportedly arrived by air at Karachi airport from Iran on 20th February and is not under treatment in Aga Khan Hospital, there is a widespread scare due to the non-availability of healthcare facilities in Sindh including special isolation wards in the government hospitals.
The Sindh government has announced to set up an Emergency Centre (whose phones seldom work), but no special isolation ward is identified in any government hospital in the city. According to media reports, isolation wards are already available in three major government hospitals including Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Civil Hospital, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and a costly private Aga Khan Hospital.
On Thursday the provincial cabinet met and decided to form a task force on coronavirus.
After the emergency meeting on Thursday morning the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a press conference said that over 1,500 people have been identified who had returned from Iran or had come into contact with those coming from Iran and later entered Sindh in the past 15 days. Those 15,00 people would be tested and if suspected some symptoms would be kept in quarantine for treatment and observation.
There are improper and inadequate arrangements at the airports in Pakistan for testing any patients of coronavirus. All those who arrived from Iran on 20th February along with the affected patient of Karachi were allowed to leave to homes without checking.
Pakistan has very poor healthcare facilities to meet such types of intense emergencies. In the Larkana district, last year hundreds of cases of HIV positive were detected and the provincial government failed to test or provide medical facilities to those patients, despite the fact the World Health Organisation (WHO) provided assistance in this regard. After the WHO campaign, those patients don’t receive any medical help.
Similarly, the country faced a shortage of rabies vaccines and many deaths were reported due to rabies in Sindh but the provincial government seemed inept to provide the vaccinations in even every district hospital. The local government bodies are unable to kill stray dogs.
But handling Coronavirus is a big challenge for the health ministry of Sindh as after the 18th Amendment in the Constitution, health has become a provincial subject and the government has no capacity and capability.
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The health experts have been issuing only preventive advice, which also included keeping hygiene and washing hands with soap frequently.
The coronavirus, which started in China at the end of last year has spread over many countries. European developed countries Italy and neighbouring Iran have reported multiple deaths and hundreds of infected patients due to this endemic disease. Iran has also no quality healthcare facilities and due to restrictions on the media correct figures are not arriving in the media. Similar is the situation in China, from where only official data is released.
No vaccination or antibiotic is available anywhere in the world to prevent or treat this virus, which is said to be transferred in human beings from animals in Wuhan city in China.
Given the healthcare situation in Pakistan and the non-availability of effective treatment of infectious diseases, there is widespread fear among the population, even though the mortality ratio is quite lower (about 2 per cent) in this virus.
So please don’t panic but take preventive measures, avoid going to busy places and use tissues or handkerchiefs in case of sneezing or coughing. God bless all humanity!
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