Recognising our heroes

It would have been appropriate that on Pakistan Day awards had been given to medical workers who laid down their lives providing essential services to poorest of the poor, including those who are spearheading such campaigns. A young GB doctor Usama Riaz died on Friday March 20 while providing services to pilgrims returning from Iran.

There are hundreds of these foot soldiers, most of them underpaid, who have lost their lives fighting polio in Pakistan for several years and are now involved in this campaign against Covid-19. The tragic criminal neglect of our bureaucracy and political elite is that while funds are available for providing limousines, perks, palatial housing, allowances etc for officers who sit in secured rooms, lack of funds was cited as an excuse for providing these foot soldiers with essential safety kits etc. This criminal neglect is not just confined to the present federal government headed by the PTI, but all those which preceded them. If only the state had realized that quality and quantum of medical equipment matters. Given poor sanitation services, the unfortunate citizens of Pakistan will always be susceptible to various epidemic viruses.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore