THE panic that spread in Karachi after 14 people died and hundreds of others fell sick because of a suspected gas leak near the port shows how unprepared we are to deal with disasters, natural and manmade.

The federal, provincial and local governments are lacking any national action plan for disaster management. The Karachi incident is by all definitions a disaster to which the authorities still seem clueless.

What ought to have been done within the first hour of an unusual patient appearance in a hospital, was an emergency plan. People from the affected locality should have been evacuated from the area.

The residents of the most affected areas should have been transported to safer areas and provided necessary protective equipment like masks, etc.

The health ministry should gather information of patients demographically to run an outbreak investigation and gather data. Only authentic evidence-based and fact-backed information should be disseminated to other hospitals and healthcare professionals to help them understand the required medical needs and to be better prepared. The media be taken on board to relay requisite information as the media has an important role to play in these situations.

We should learn from China as it deals with the coronavirus epidemic. The country needs to prepare standard operating procedures on how to deal with an emergency situation and care for its citizens.

Dr Fivzia Herekar

Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2020