It’s hard to believe, but in just a week, normal life in Pakistan has ground to a halt. Businesses deemed nonessential by the government are closed or closing. Classrooms sit empty. Streets are eerily quiet and freeways unimaginably clear. As Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Saturday announced to continue protest against what they claimed provincial government not willing to provide safety kits for doctors performing duties in Sheikh Zahid Hospital and treating Novel Coronavirus patients. In order to record its protest the YDA has locked down the office of Medical Superintendent. However, the real problems that are arising in the ongoing coronavirus situation are different. Poorly-equipped government hospitals lack the capacity to screen the large number of suspected cases. Another challenge is quarantining and isolating those detected positive. Hospitals lack basic equipment like masks, sanitisers and ventilators.

Pakistan is in a critical situation of the coronavirus pandemic. With shortage of food, ventilators’, testing kits and other necessities Pakistan has to overcome all the difficulties and to provide relief to the people and the virus patients. However, government fail to provide five elementary protections, N95 masks, protective gowns, gloves, face shields, and scrubs. While common people can use ordinary masks to protect them, for medical staff N95 masks are an absolute must. These masks are highly recommended to be included in protective kits for all medical staff as they are a first defence from airborne particles and from liquid contaminating the face. We have seen in Pakistan that many doctors and health workers are using ordinary masks that are not good enough for those who are regularly in contact with the affected people. Since the pandemic is likely to last for many weeks or maybe even months, there is an urgent need to distribute N95 masks to all our healthcare professionals. There are over 200 thousand doctors in Pakistan and at least around a million healthcare workers. And if we fail to give them the masks we may start losing our heroes in the field. Then there are gowns and gloves that need to be distributed on a mass scale. Ideally, the government is responsible for fulfilling basic rights of the citizens and providing them facilities. Many in the country are skeptical about this approach, due to massive scandals of corruption in past and bleak record of similar funds, which were collected but never utilized. If our healthcare workers run out of clean protective equipment, they cannot treat people with Covid-19. These people are our heroes and must be appreciated, protected and respected. The foremost responsibility for this lies with the state, but of course private entities and individuals are also needed at this time to contribute in whatever way they can to help our heroes on the frontline of the struggle against Covid-19.