The number of people, who have so far fallen prey to COVID-19 or novel coronavirus in Pakistan, has reportedly gone over 7,662 now. It is alarming that it took about 29 days to reach first 1,000 cases in Pakistan, seven days to the next 1,000, and just five days to hit another 1,000. Such is the speed of the spread of this pandemic. The frequency of cases is dangerous given the government’s preparedness to save lives during this pandemic with minimum resources.
The number of people, who have so far fallen prey to COVID-19 or novel coronavirus in Pakistan, has reportedly gone over 7,662 now. It is alarming that it took about 29 days to reach first 1,000 cases in Pakistan, seven days to the next 1,000, and just five days to hit another 1,000. Such is the speed of the spread of this pandemic. The frequency of cases is dangerous given the government’s preparedness to save lives during this pandemic with minimum resources.
Unfortunately, Pakistan is far from being truly prepared to manage its resources to overcome the pandemic. The pandemic has already made the lives of the people miserable and woeful. The world is entering in a new phase of history. The pandemic has exposed the ugly face of the neoliberalism which has miserably failed to protect our lives. Hundreds of thousands have died, health workers, at the front lines of this battle have been put at risk, as country after country has failed to provide adequate protective gear to their doctors, nurses, and others. It has the potential to cause grave damages to the poor and to the economic livelihoods of millions in the informal sector.
The chances of South Asia’s coping with this pandemic are remote, as most of the region’s economies are already in a desperate state.
Three decades of neoliberal capitalism have destroyed basic public services including quality public healthcare and universal social protection.
The average expenditure on public health in South Asia has hovered around 1.3 percent of the GDP. Even Italy and France which have been the epicentre of the pandemic were investing around 11 percent of the GDP and yet they have been unable to stem the tide of deaths and the increasing pressures on their health system in the wake of the pandemic.
Globalisation for South Asian countries resulted in greater privatisation of healthcare and a reduction in the role of the state. South Asia, by and large, has seen a reduction in the number of primary healthcare centres in the predominantly rural areas making quality healthcare an impossibility for the poor.
The majority of the people depend on the public health system. This system is on its knees today. Bangladesh has 112 ICU beds and 400 ventilators for a population of about 165 million. Pakistan, a country of 220 million people has a bed-to-population ratio of less than one per 1,000 when the recommended average by World Health Organisatin (WHO) is five per 1,000.
The WHO also mandates a doctor to population ratio of 1:1000, while in India it is 1:1,404. For people living in rural areas and completely dependent on government healthcare facilities, the doctor to patient ratio is abysmally low with 1:10,926. Other countries also lack adequate facilities to face the current pandemic. The situation in Nepal is also not different as there are only about 360 ventilator machines in the country and 260 of them are in the Kathmandu. Afghanistan is also facing a severe shortage of coronavirus tests and ventilators. In Afghanistan as of April 2, the country’s two designated coronavirus hospitals had only 12 working ventilators between them. According to Sri Lanka’s Government Medical Officers Association, the country only has about 600 intensive care unit beds with ventilators.
The governments of South Asian countries must learn proper lessons from this crisis for the future and steps taken to cry halt to anti-labour thinking that has been quite rampant in our region.
The SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund should be utilised proportionally to provide support and assistance as per the need of any member state. A regional mechanism should be formed to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas on the status and fight against the COVID-19.
South Asian governments should call for the cancellation of all external debts so that the resources can be concentrated to provide quality basic services to the people.
The members of G20 group of nations must raise the agenda of debt cancellation at the G20 Finance Ministers’ and central bank governors’ virtual meeting, taking place next week, April 15, 2020. The governments should ensure that everyone is supported during these critical times and expenses are paid through progressive taxation on rich, who have immensely benefited from the economic growth.
The governments of the region must reduce military and defence budget by at least 10 percent of the national expenditures every year, while the health budget should be increased to at least 10 percent of the total national budget.
