ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s healthcare system is poised to undergo significant stress due to the emergence of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, despite a decrease in the number of Covid-19 positivity and casualty rates.

This was pointed out in a report, titled ‘Covid-19 Response and Relief Governance Monitoring’, which was prepared and launched by Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) on Tuesday.

Fafen has collected data from 64 districts across the four provinces to generate a monitoring report on Covid-19 governance for a period between Oct 1 and Dec 15, 2021. The data is based on the interviews with key stakeholders as well as direct observations conducted by independent observers deployed in the districts.

While observing gaps in public behaviour and government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the network reiterated the need to focus on health-sector priorities to tackle threats posed by outbreaks and pandemics.

The system has remained under the additional burden of the reported 48,906 infections with 183 deaths between January and September 2021 from the dengue outbreak.

Also read: 79 confirmed Omicron cases detected in Pakistan so far

The report urged the government to adopt a comprehensive and proactive response to maintain control and safeguard the population against the threat posed by the Omicron variant.

While recognising the strides made in the vaccine uptake process, it states that a significant proportion of the total population is yet to be inoculated and still requires utmost attention as it is the only way to prevent and secure the population from falling prey to Omicron or any other new variant.

The report highlights the challenges in the vaccination process but also underscores the need to extend the vaccination process to far-flung areas of the country.

The misinformation and rumours reported about the efficacy of the vaccine circulating among some healthcare workers and the general population is slowing down the vaccination process, the report said, adding that the government needs to proactively expand the outreach of its awareness campaign to counter the misinformation and rumour and educate the public and healthcare workers.

It also reflects on the declining and worrisome trends of compliance with SOPs at public spaces and offices. Field monitoring of the public spaces shows that the majority of people are not complying with the observation of Covid-19 SOPs.

While public information is more widely displayed, compliance among the public remains low. Respondents in only 18pc of the districts shared that the majority of people in their areas are taking the Covid-19 threat seriously.

The report recognises the government’s proactive approach after the discovery of the Omicron variant.

On Nov 29, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and Minister for Planning Asad Umar held a joint press conference and appealed to the citizens to complete their vaccination doses and announced preventive measures, including curbs on travel from the countries affected by the new variant.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2021