Sirajul Haq asks govt to prepare national plan against coronavirus

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has urged the government to speed up its efforts against the spread of coronavirus and show greater sense of responsibility in view of the increasing number of its cases.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Senator Sirajul Haq said it was the responsibility of the government to work out a comprehensive strategy with the cooperation of the political leadership and medical experts to meet the challenge and also prepare an action plan for implementation.

Senator Sirajul Haq said still it was time that the government sat with the opposition leaders and prepared a national plan to check the coronavirus.

The JI chief said that till now the doctors and the medical personnel fighting the virus were themselves insecure. The personal protective equipment with the doctors was of low quality. Besides, the medical personnel had not been trained to fight epidemics. As such, he said, it was essential to frame a new code of conduct in this regard with the consultation of the medial experts.

He said the government was preparing special shirts for around 0.4 million members of the Tiger Force but did not feel the need to provide quality equipment and safe dress for the medical staff.

He said the masks being provided to the doctors could only protect them from dust but not from the virus.

He said that attention should be given to protect the doctors and the paramedical staff because as long they were not secure they could not effectively fight against the virus.

The JI chief said that instead of giving attention to the media coverage or raising a new force, the government should give priority to fight coronavirus. He said that so far neither a comprehensive system for coronavirus test had been prepared nor the ICU setup had been raised to the international standard.

He said the daily wage earners had been forced to starve due to the lockdown. The government is announcing relief package everyday but it is not ready to pay a penny to the affected people, he said.

The JI chief urged the government to immediately announce remission in the electricity and gas bills and also abolish interest. Availability of the essential items at the Utility Stores should be ensured. He said a new crisis of shortage and sugar seemed to be emerging and the government should give immediate attention to it as well.