JI warns of street protests if Sindh’s health facilities not increased

Demanding an increase in the capacity of COVID-19 treatment facilities across Sindh, especially in Karachi, on an urgent basis as well as the imposition of a health emergency, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Thursday warned the provincial government that if immediate measures were not adopted to provide more treatment facilities to the people infected with the novel coronavirus, the party would take to the streets because they could not continue to let people die without getting any medical treatment.

“We are not satisfied with the performance of the Sindh government in this pandemic, as they have not been working as per the expectations of the people during this outbreak. At this moment, all the COVID-19 treatment wards are packed to capacity and people are moving from one place to another to get their loved ones admitted to any health facility. If the provincial government fails to enhance the treatment facilities despite having billions of rupees, we would be compelled to take to the streets against them,” JI Karachi Ameer (chief) Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman told a news conference at the party headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq.

Accompanied by senior healthcare providers, including eminent neurologist Prof Muhammad Wasey Shakir, Dr Saqib Ansari, Dr Kashif Shazli, Dr Zafar Iqbal, Dr Azhar Chughtai, Dr Naila Tariq and renowned neurologist Dr Abdul Malik, the JI city chief said corruption during this pandemic would not be tolerated and nobody would be allowed to plunder money in the name of creating health facilities in the province.

“The government is telling people that it is spending billions on the availability of treatment facilities and services in the province, but people are moving from pillar to post to get their loved ones admitted to any hospital. We demand that the government immediately increase the number of beds and equipment, especially ventilators, at the health facilities,” said Rehman, also demanding that the government immediately impose a health emergency across the province.

He said the government should urgently hire trained and qualified healthcare workers and get them further trained to deal with COVID-19 patients, as on the one hand public hospitals in the province are facing an acute shortage of trained healthcare providers, and on the other, daily hundreds of healthcare workers are contracting the disease, while some of them have even lost their lives due to the infectious disease.

“Doctors, nurses, paramedics and technicians are working without any personal protective equipment (PPE) or proper security. They are being subjected to violence on a daily basis. This situation is intolerable and no more acceptable,” the JI leader said, adding that healthcare workers were also demoralised, as they were not being paid their remuneration in accordance with their efforts and risks they were taking to save people’s lives.

Rehman claimed that the government had decided to purchase 168 more ventilators and in this regard, they had earmarked Rs3 billion, which was double the amount required to purchase these machines. He warned that if any corruption was committed and if public money was looted, his party would react strongly and bring the people on the streets to safeguard their interests.

He also criticised the isolation centre established at the Expo Centre, saying that billions of rupees were spent on it but it proved to be a failed project, where only asymptomatic people were being kept, who did not require hospitalisation. Initially, it was claimed that a 10,000-bed health facility is being established, but it turned out to be a 520-bed facility with only 75 beds occupied, he added.

Eminent gastroenterologist Dr Saad Khalid Niaz, who is also infected with the novel coronavirus, said in his telephonic address that the government should create a centralised helpline for the assistance of people as well as set up help and information desks at every hospital to guide people, while a dashboard should also be established to help people ascertain the availability of beds at the COVID-19 treatment wards in the city.

Dr Ansari said the entire health sector was facing an acute shortage of trained manpower and staff, adding that trained ICU technicians and staff were not available at any cost in the city at this moment.

“We would request federal and provincial governments to seek support from China and Turkey in getting our staff trained and improving the facilities at our health centres,” he suggested.

Several other health experts called for providing support and protection to healthcare providers as well as PPE and incentives so that they could perform in this time of crisis without any concern and apprehensions.