THE doctors and nurses whose services had been hired during the Covid pandemic have been working since the very first wave that hit the country. They have worked in critical isolation centres, high- dependence units (HDUs) and intensive care units (ICUs), risking their lives and those of their dear ones. Many of them got infected due to substandard personal protective equipment (PPE) provided to them by the government, but they worked without a grumble, knowing that it was an unprecedented emergency, and true professionalism required them to focus on the critical, and to leave just about everything else completely aside.

There was no one else to do the job they did, and for doing that, they were rightly called national ‘heroes’. However, the treatment meted out to these doctors and nurses was far from anything that a ‘hero’ deserves. It has been four years and they are still performing their duties as the main Covid-related workforce at all government health institutions, but they have not been paid their hard-earned salaries for the last eight months. This is despite the fact that there has never been an administrative issue related to their performance as they have always been regular and punctual.

Currently, the ‘heroes’ are facing a severe financial crisis, and are on the verge of starving. Tragically, one of their colleagues had ended his life two years ago owing to the troubles he was tired of facing due to constant delays in salary disbursements.

All relevant government officials need to step forward and come to the rescue of these humane, gentle souls who risked their lives for the larger good of the nation when it mattered the most. They deserve better; far better. They surely do.

Dr Shoukat Ali
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2024