HYDERABAD: A joint action committee (JAC) of Sindh doctors has threatened to stop working in coronavirus-related areas in all hospitals from Monday if they are not provided personal protective equipment (PPE).

In an online meeting held on Sunday, the committee expressed concern that performing duties in the infected areas was tantamount to putting the life of doctors at a risk.

It noted that the government had failed in providing the PPE and other basic facilities to doctors and paramedics in quarantine centres and isolation wards, and not withdrawn from deducting their salaries etc. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Pakistan Medical Association Sindh and Young Doctors Association (YDA) Sindh, including PMA Sindh general secretary Dr Pir Manzoor, YDA Sindh chairman Dr Umer Sultan, Dr Mohammad Khan Shar, Dr Abdul Razzaq Rajpar, Dr Yasin Umrani and others.

Discussing problems being faced by doctors and paramedics in the present situation, they noted that the doctors were performing their duties in a dangerous condition, but the government did not pay attention to those problems of serious nature. On one hand special package was not given to doctors while on the other they were deprived of basic facilities, they said.

Asking doctors to perform duties without the PPE was like pushing them to death, they said, adding that the PMA had been demanding the equipment for doctors from day one, but those calls remained unheeded. They said the doctors had been performing duties wearing black armbands for the past six days to lodge their protest, but still the government had not taken notice of it.

This apathy of the government showed that it had no interest in resolving the problems of doctors, the meeting observed and described saluting and appreciating doctors on television as just a drama. They said the doctors were not provided the PPE in violation of the protocols set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and now they were losing patience because everything had been brought to the notice of the Sindh health minister, health secretary and spokesman for the Sindh government.

They said the life of the doctors were in a grave danger, therefore, the committee had unanimously resolved that they would not perform duties in the coronavirus related-areas from Monday in hospitals if they were not provided safety kits and basic facilities.

The meeting reminded the government doctors’ demands, including issuance of risk allowance, provision of PPE for doctors, nurses and paramedics, withdrawal of deduction from the salaries of doctors and paramedics and availability of facilities in quarantine centres and isolation wards. In the present situation, the doctors had no option, but to take that extreme step, the meeting said.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2020