PMA considers businesses reopening premature

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Cautioning that the COVID-19 disease was not over in the country yet, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), on August 8, urged the government to ensure maintenance of related preventive measures above all.

In a statement the association regretted that 80 to 85% people did not follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) nowadays. 

“Even at the government offices people do not adopt preventive measures while it is the responsibility of the government to implement SOPs strictly,” it was pointed out. 

The statement issued by the PMA Secretary General, Dr Qaiser Sajjad, reckoned that the government had taken the decision of reopening almost all the businesses across the country in haste. 

“We are still under quarantine period for monitoring corona cases and only after five to six days we will be able to know how many new cases have emerged after Eid,” he stated. 

The PMA brought to light the fact that the other countries including United States, England, Brazil, Australia, China and South Korea, who had eased their lockdowns and opened different sectors in view of their subsiding cases of COVID-19, were once again reporting cases which have increased in the second phase there. 

“We are scared that our graph may not increase again. It could increase the burden over our hospitals and healthcare workers like it happened after Eid-ul-Fitr,” the PMA Secretary feared. 

The PMA felt that the decision about resumption of different sectoral activities, businesses, educational institutions, travelling and tourism should have been made after upcoming festivals and events like Independence Day, Muharram and Rabi-ul-Awwal.

Concerns raised over rising COVID-19 infections among doctors

y Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

As the rate of COVID-19 infection among the healthcare workers is on the rise, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has again expressed its concern over the life and health of doctors, nurses and paramedics working as frontline care providers in the case of coronavirus positive patients across the country. 

According to a report compiled at the national level, there are 1,359 doctors, nurses and health staff having contracted the COVID-19 disease across the country, which constituted three per cent of the national COVID-19 case count. 

As many as 67 new infections were confirmed among the healthcare providers during the last 24 hours, the report added on May 20. 

The PMA, in a statement issued by its Secretary General, Dr S M Qaiser Sajjad, highlighted that the healthcare providers concerned were working very hard at quarantine centres, isolations centres and high dependency units and at intensive care units to treat the coronavirus patients. 

“They are serving with dedication in hospital wards, emergencies and OPDs at both public and private sector hospitals.” 

While already faced with the threat of the lethal infections, people are attacking and destroying health facilities and threatening the healthcare workers, an unfortunate situation which may discourage and depress the healthcare workers, the doctors’ body added. 

“The situation will be very unfortunate if healthcare workers do not come to the hospitals due to such incidents and due to their stay in isolation due to coronavirus.” 

Dr Qaiser Sajjad urged the government to protect the healthcare workers from coronavirus by providing personal protecting equipments (PPEs) on regular basis. 

The healthcare workers must also be protected from violent mobs at hospitals and be provided with peaceful environment at their work places, he added while demanding reduction in the duty hours of the doctors to six hours only and provision of two-week leave for quarantining after one week of duty. 

In the meantime, the government should facilitate more and more people for coronavirus test and also provide all the required facilities to the patients at quarantine and isolation centres, the PMA statement stressed.

Doctors fear rise in COVID-19 cases due to relaxed lockdown

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

A delegation of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), in its meeting with the Sindh Health Minister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, on May 13, expressed concerns over the prevailing situation after relaxation in lockdown.

“There are crowds of people everywhere including markets throughout the country,” the delegation observed and warned the health minister that the PMA feared the number of new cases to surge in the coming weeks. 

The PMA delegation included Dr S M Qaiser Sajjad, Dr Qazi Muhammad Wasiq and Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, who also discussed at large the issues of doctors, nurses and paramedics working in the Sindh. 

According to the PMA press release, the provincial health minister assured the doctor community leaders that risk allowance will be given to the health workers engaged in the care of the coronavirus patients. 

The minster agreed to the suggestions of doctors for improving the capacity building measures at the public sector hospitals. She was also urged to ensure increase in the number of beds in the hospitals and the number of corona designated hospitals and testing capacity. 

Dr Azra Pechuho announced that doctors and the paramedics suffering from COVID-19 will be admitted at private designated hospital, when no ICU beds and ventilator as available at the public sector hospitals, at the expense of government.

National Quit Smoking Day on 1st Ramazan

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

The various health professionals’ organizations have voiced their concerns on the hazards of smoking cigarettes, which reportedly bring out the death of 166,000 people every year in Pakistan, on the eve of the National Quit Smoking Day to be observed on the upcoming first day of Ramazan. 

They have thrown light on the devastating tobacco epidemic rampant in the country and emphasized that the holy month of Ramadan provided a golden opportunity for people to quit smoking. 

“Cigarettes are killers that travel in packs. Tobacco consumption is the leading preventable cause of death, causing seven million deaths per year worldwide. Moreover, this death toll is expected to rise to 10 million per year by the year 2025 if the tobacco epidemic continues uncurbed. The horrifying impact of tobacco use in Pakistan is made apparent by the fact that smoking killed 166,000 Pakistanis in 2018 alone,” they warned. 

Prof Javaid Khan of the Aga Khan University (AKU) and Chair of the National Alliance for Tobacco Control, speaking at the Karachi Press Club, informed that every year, 1st Ramazan is commemorated all over the Muslim World as Quit Tobacco Day. 

“Ramazan presents a unique opportunity for Muslims to adopt a healthy lifestyle and quit tobacco use. Each puff of tobacco smoke is made up of thousands of chemicals, including at least 70 known to cause cancer. Tobacco kills half of those who use it, with its victims dying, on average, 15 to 20 years prematurely,” he stated. 

Prof Javaid Khan also urged religious scholars of the country to use this holy month to disseminate information to the public about the hazards associated with tobacco use. 

Dr Qaisar Sajjad, Head and Neck Surgeon and Secretary General, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), added that smokeless tobacco in the form of Gutka, Naswar and manipuri was responsible for 90% of head and neck cancers in the country. 

Advising the government to increase the taxation on tobacco products, he regretted the delay in introduction of Sin Tax on cigarettes as announced by the Health Minister last year.