A PRIVATE television channel has been airing a play these days daily at 9pm. It was going well and getting popular, but suddenly there is now a twist in the story showing an overseas family coming to its ancestral house in Pakistan and getting diagnosed with Covid and showing severe symptoms.

The infected person is hospitalised and then discharged while still carrying the virus. All the family members get their tests done and are shown negative, except for the one who was the prime suspect for having the virus.

The family is shown wearing masks off and on, and the infected person is not isolated and is shown sitting and chatting with his brother in his room. The infected person is not shown wearing a mask and it seems that the entire family is taking the disease rather casually and is not worried at all.

I fail to understand why Covid, which is a very serious issue at the moment, is shown in a television play as something which should not be taken seriously. A light comedy Ramazan play and coronavirus do not go together well at all.

Being a public health person and a Covid trainer, I have zero tolerance for this type of messages given out by the media when the country and the world at large are trying hard to make people take this problem seriously.

If dramas cannot show the pandemic as a threat to the masses, then those concerned — the producer, the director and the channel — must ensure that such dramas are not aired in the first place.

Television plays leave an impact on people and their behaviour, and such an irresponsible behaviour towards a serious problem may send strong negative messages to the population. This is totally bizarre and is in fact dangerous for society.

It is time we took Covid seriously at all levels and forums as even a little bit of negligence can ruin all media efforts for creating awareness about the virus and the need to follow the relevant SOPs.

Dr Shahnaz Shallwani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2021