“Someone was saying that everyone will have the Coronavirus at least once due to the pandemic,” said my wife, Shazia. “Is it correct?” she asked me.
“I don’t think so, because those who take precautions will be spared, ” was my reply.
But they say those who wear masks etc. will even have to undergo the disease, she again asked. No, it is not correct, I replied emphatically adding that it is propaganda like some people were saying that there is no such disease or others were declaring it a conspiracy. Even many were saying the government is receiving Dollars for each patient.
“Why are you listening to them seriously?” I asked. These people are creating fear unintentionally and your subconscious mind is quite sensitive so if you think along these lines you may receive it. Therefore, just ignore such comments, I said to her. But I senses she was not convinced by my arguments.
My wife is not alone who was facing such a situation these days when the entire media is full of news about the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 in the country and every day the numbers are increasing. Daily thousands of people are reported to test positive and around 100 people lose their lives each day.
The government policies towards controlling the pandemic seem they are silently going towards herd immunity, which means the government is not able to do anything, so whoever is contracted the disease should fight himself/herself and if he/she survives that is good as he/she may have developed immunity, otherwise, whoever is dying should die.
The ineffective testing services, inadequate quarantine and medical facilities in government hospitals have made Pakistanis vulnerable to contract the pandemic diseases easily. The private hospitals in urban centres are minting money by providing costly testing and isolation facilities.
The state’s health facilities are inadequate and insufficient and cannot cater to the needs of every citizen. People also have no confidence in the government’s health facilities. The majority of infected or suspected patients prefer to stay at their homes in quarantine instead of going to government facilities for isolation.
A lot of my friends and colleagues who have been infected with the virus have opted to stay at their homes in isolation instead of going to hospitals for receiving medical treatment. A journalist friend of mine who opted for going to the hospital said that he was kept in a hospital room along with other three patients (which means they were a total of four in the room). Because he was a journalist, therefore, he received good attention and better treatment facilities in a government hospital, but he said that other journalists who were also admitted to the same government hospital had left the hospital saying there were poor healthcare facilities and they preferred to go to private hospitals.
Oxygen cylinders, some drugs which are said to be helpful in the treatment of Coronavirus have vanished from the medical stores in the markets. People are buying masks, sanitisers and hand gloves at exorbitant rates. Even Chinese-made cheaper digital oximeters are being sold at much higher rates because they are in high demand.
I received a message (SMS) from a prominent drugs selling company that it was selling oximeters (which is used on a finger) at the rate of Rs. 4000 per piece. You might have seen advertisements on social media where people are selling these gadgets at higher prices.
Even though the government has not officially declared its policy on herd immunity, there is strong evidence that it may opt. This is also evident from the government’s callous attitude towards the pandemic. The Supreme Court of Pakistan also played a key role when it allowed Eid shopping during the last week of Ramazan. People thronged to the shopping centres without taking preventive measures or following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) set by the government for shopping centres. The number of COVID-19-positive patients has increased rapidly since the Eidul Fitre and the total number has even crossed 220,000 patients now and over 4000 deaths.
The Sindh provincial government, which took appreciable measures at the start of the pandemic early in March, has also stopped its vigorous efforts and is following the federal government’s policy of indifference.
In recent days, government figures indicate that number of tests has reduced, which ultimately has reported fewer patients per day. But the situation on the ground is miserable as many deaths due to the pandemic are not reported.
