ISLAMABAD: Trouble for Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza seems to be far from over as the Pakistan Young Pharmacists Association (PYPA) on Thursday requested Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed to order a criminal inquiry into shortage of proper protective gear for healthcare providers.

Similarly, the Young Doctors Association’s (YDA) Islamabad chapter has also invited the attention of the chief justice to the plight of the doctors facing the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) or the use of substandard equipment.

A letter sent to the chief justice by the PYPA has requested him to order provision of PPE and health insurance to paramedics involved in the fight against coronavirus and compensation for the families of those medics who have contracted virus or died while combating the pandemic.

Written by PYPA secretary general Dr Furqan Ibrahim, the letter alleges that Dr Mirza is running an NGO, the Network for Consumer Protection.

On Wednesday, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court to challenge appointments of advisers and special assistants to the prime minister.

Health insurance of medics involved in fight against coronavirus demanded

Dr Ibrahim told Dawn that he had sent the letter to the chief justice on Thursday. In the letter, he recalls how Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed Dr Mirza as the SAPM on health after removal of former health minister Amer Kayani on charges of indulging in corruption during medicine price increase up to 400 per cent wherein billions of rupees were embezzled.

Soon after his appointment, the prime minister ordered SAPM Mirza to reduce the medicine prices within 72 hours, but the prices were never reduced rather continued to increase, the letter says.

Moreover, the entire healthcare system of Pakistan was badly affected after the repeal of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Act and promulgation of the PMC Ordinance 2019, which was later declared illegal by the Islamabad High Court. Thousands of new medical graduates are now waiting for registration with the PMDC, the letter points out.

Soon after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the letter alleges, around 20 million face masks and protection gears were smuggled out of Pakistan, leaving behind an acute shortage of masks and protection gears.

The Federal Investigation Agency is probing to the alleged face masks smuggling, the letter says.

It alleges that Dr Mirza has appointed junior doctors as heads of federal government hospitals which has resulted in almost collapse of the healthcare system at the facilities.

The letter also alleges that substandard testing kits and protection gears for Covid-19 are being supplied to hospitals across the country.

The second letter sent to the chief justice by the YDA says that more than 104 doctors and a considerable number of paramedics have contracted Covid-19 during the battle against the deadly virus.

In Multan’s Nishtar Medical Hospital, 27 doctors and paramedics have been infected with coronavirus. Likewise in Karachi, 40 doctors and paramedics have so far been diagnosed with Covid-19, the letter says.

It attributes the prevalence of infection amongst the medical staff to unavailability of PPE or use of low quality protective gear.

Besides, two doctors, Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro and Dr Usama Riaz, have lost their lives to Covid-19, but their families have not been paid any compensation, the letter regrets.

It alleges that the medics are being provided low quality PPE and ineffective face masks, instead of the WHO-mandated N-95 masks, which exposes the government’s inability to deal with the crisis.

The PPE for medical staff, the letter says, is the most fundamental requirement in the fight against Covid-19.

It says that Pakistan recorded its first Covid-19 case at the end of February and prior to that despite having time to prepare after the international community sounded the alarm, the authorities did not procure sufficient equipment or implement a strategy to protect the medical workers.

The YDA is being approached by the doctors saying that they are being asked or forced to wear less protective surgical masks and use substandard PPE when dealing with suspected Covid-19 patients, the letter says.

Besides, the authorities have failed to develop a system whereby a suspected Covid-19 patient is prevented from roaming around the hospital premises before reaching a designated coronavirus ward.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2020