Doctors associations seek protective gears

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The doctors bodies appeared concerned over what they say failures of governments and health administration in providing due protection to frontline medical professionals against coronavirus in hospitals across the country.

Demanding for provision of safety kits to front liners, the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA), on April 11, said that the authorities should move fast before the incident like Quetta was repeated in Karachi while the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) reiterated that the doctors must be protected all over the country on priority basis and the governments in the federation and provinces should ensure compensation to aggrieved family members of doctors. 

The doctors and paramedics in Quetta had gathered at the Civil Hospital against the health authorities for not providing personal protection gears and other preventive items to them. 

They, however, were later arrested by police on the ground that they violated Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedures imposed by the government in the wake of the preventive lockdown and finally released. 

The Quetta doctors staged the protest reportedly in the backdrop of about a dozen doctors contracted coronavirus while discharging their duties. 

The two associations remained apprehensive about more doctors getting infected by the virus while performing duties. 

The PIMA disclosed that 10 healthcare providers, including six doctors, of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre, Karachi, tested positive for Corona as reportedly the administration didn't equip their frontliners with personal protection equipment (PPE).

Highlighting the need for proper equipping of all hospitals, a PIMA representative reminded the protocol that every patient had to be be considered as COVID-19 positive until prove otherwise. 

He further said that most of local transmission to healthcare professionals was coming through asymptomatic Corona patients. Holding that the safety of doctors should be top first priority, the PIMA leader demanded for provision of safety kits to frontliners before the incident like Quetta was repeated in Karachi. 

“The administration of Trauma Centre should be made answerable to this gross negligence,” he demanded. 

The PIMA alleged that the administration at certain healthcare centres was deliberately holding back the PPEs having received from the government instead of supplying them to front line care givers. 

“While the PIMA was trying to fulfill the ever increasing demand for PPEs, the need was enormous,” the association said, reiterating that it stood with young doctors in their justified demands and will go to any ethical extent to support them. 

On the other hand, the PMA said that doctors fighting against coronavirus were front line soldiers and they must be protected all over Pakistan on priority basis because they and their families were at risk. Pointing out that so many doctors have been found positive with coronavirus, 

The PMA, in a statement, also cited the example of an ENT Professor Dr Muhammad Javed of Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar.  “Dr Javed has been tested positive for coronavirus and has been shifted to ICU. He is on ventilator and fighting for his life.” 

It further said that two of doctors have died so far while fighting on the front lines, Dr Usama Riaz at Peshawar and Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro at Karachi..“Unfortunately no compensation has been announced yet for the aggrieved families of the deceased doctors.” 

The PMA demanded from the federal government and the provincial governments concerned to announce not only a compensation amount for the families but a regular monthly support amount for the education, health and utilities for the families of the deceased doctors urgently. 

In the meantime, the Sindh government has constituted a committee to finalize the distribution of PPEs, being received from the National Disaster Management Authority, according to a government notification. 

The committee will comprise of Senior Member Board of Revenue, Sindh(Chairman) and Secretary/Special Secretary Health, Director Medical Services, 5 Corps Karachi, and Dr Abdul Bari Khan of Indus Hospital, Karachi, as members while Director General, Provincial Disaster Management, will act as member cum Secretary of the committee.