| April 10, 2002 | Wednesday | Muharram 26, 1423 |
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An unnecessary strike
High incidence of diabetes
WITH Kharif sowing on throughout the country, the low reservoir levels and the consequently reduced supply of water have increased the quibbles between the two main agricultural provinces. The lower reparian has asked Punjab, through the Indus River System Authority, to restrict withdrawals for Punjab from the Indus system to 5,000 cusecs for 15 days to allow a full sowing of the cotton crop. Punjab argues that it is only drawing 7,000 cusecs because of the drought — 5,700 cusecs less than its reduced allotted share — and this is absolute minimum to run the canal system efficiently and maintain necessary drinking water supplies. The situation has slightly eased following the recent rains, which raised the level of water at Mangla by 10 feet. This has allowed Irsa some room for manoeuvre. It has informed the Chief Executive’s secretariat that it will increase the availability of water for Sindh during April by 5,000 cusecs subject to readjustment for Punjab in the late Kharif season. The decision is expected to be made at an extended Irsa meeting today. It is not too much to hope that, while taking a decision, narrow provincial interests will be subordinated to a wider consideration for national harmony.
The amended water distribution accord has been controversial. It is argued by Sindh that the quantum of water available is highly exaggerated and that the allotted volume necessary for maintaining the balance of the Indus delta’s ecosystem is never available. Sindh’s geographical location at the tail-end of the Indus water system and the topography of the province make the river its life-line in terms of supporting its agriculture and fisheries and holding back sea water from encroaching on cultivable land.
Since the water crisis began, there has been no decline in the crop area in Punjab; in Sindh, on the contrary, there has been a sharp decline in the acreage under the rice crop and marginally less in the other crops. The reason for this phenomenon, according to Punjab, is the inefficient use of water in Sindh, even though, being a lower riparian, it needs to be more water-use efficient. According to a Punjab Water Council source, water used for 1,000 acres in Sindh, on average, is as high as 17 cusecs. In Punjab, it is only six causecs. If this assertion is correct, then there seems to be a lot of wastage in Sindh. While seepage in Punjab is partly recoverable through tubewells, Sindh sits on top of brackish underground water, which is harmful for corps.
Wapda, being responsible for constructing dams and reservoirs, should largely take the blame for the current water and electricity crises, because, during the last three decades since Tarbela, it concentrated only on the Kalabagh dam, which was controversial from day one and became more so as a result of the methods adopted to advance its case. There were many less controversial sites, less costly, but these were never considered. This strategy seemed to have been adopted to force the hands of political authorities in crisis situations in favour of the Kalabagh dam. As things stand today, Sindh must use whatever water is available efficiently, avoiding waste, while Punjab should show consideration for Sindh’s predicament — short of rains and having brackish underground water. The crisis needs to be faced in a spirit of accommodation by both sides.
THE primary concern of the medical profession is to save lives and alleviate human suffering. However, the nationwide strike on Monday by doctors would make us think twice on the issue. The reason for this extreme action — the second such strike in the past few weeks — is the government’s lethargic response to the sectarian violence unleashed on the doctors. Nothing could be more criminal than government inaction, and no one more deserving of condemnation than those behind this sectarian terrorism. Undeniably, the government’s response and the incompetence of its law-enforcement apparatus are shocking, because the incidents of doctors being targeted have not subsided, and their assailants are hardly ever caught, let alone convicted.
Despite that, a strike on a nationwide scale does not make much sense. Apart from severely inconveniencing thousands of patients, doctors do not get the sympathy they deserve on the issue. If the intention was to goad the government into going after the killers, then surely there must be other, more patient-friendly ways of doing this. If the idea was to register a protest, then a much shorter token strike could have served to draw the nation’s attention towards the doctors’ assassinations. They could also stage walks or take delegations to meet government and political leaders. Reports suggest that on the strike day, doctors held meetings to discuss ways to improve the situation they were in. Well, it is the government’s job to improve law and order, not the doctors’. Our doctors should know that the way our healthcare system works, any strike such as theirs would disproportionately hurt the poor, since they make up the majority of patients at government hospitals. Those in the medical profession must ask themselves what exactly such strikes achieve. Undeniably, the public is sympathetic to their cause, but that sympathy could erode if the people are led to believe that it is they who are the target of the doctors’ anger.
THE high incidence of diabetes in Pakistan today could have been avoided had we emphasized the importance of physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle. At a workshop in Islamabad on the occasion of World Health Day jointly organized by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Information Centre, it was revealed that, with fifteen million diabetic patients, Pakistan is first on the list of the top ten countries where diabetes is common. In 1995 Pakistan did not figure at all in this top ten list. Had we acted upon the adage “prevention is better than cure”, we would not have come to this pass today. And we are being warned that if we do not change our unhealthy sedentary lifestyle, we will be seeing a rise in other non-communicable diseases as well, like heart attack, stroke, hypertension, chronic liver disease and cancer. As it is, a WHO study has found sedentary lifestyle to be one of the ten leading causes of death, disease and disability in the world.
It is obvious that a concerted, high-profile national effort to promote a healthy lifestyle needs to be launched, involving the health sector, the mass media and the education sector. With society getting increasingly urbanized, it is school, work and television round which life revolves, at least in the upper and middle classes. Farmers and manual workers, who resent their poverty, are, however, lucky, for they escape the diseases that fall to the lot of those who eat better and live better. However, as divine justice would have it, it is this latter category that needs to do some physical exercise, or perhaps walk to the work place to shed a bit of the fat and lower the cholesterol level. Being educated, they can be more easily influenced by the media and are open to campaigns by the government and NGOs. Schools, colleges, universities and offices all have a role to play in promoting physical education, and in making them realize the importance of avoiding fatty dishes and taking more cereals and fibrous foods.