Out of a total 138 healthcare staff affected with Covid-19, eighteen were performing duty in critical-care unites.
Young Doctors Association (YDA) President Dr Yasir Khan Achakzai, when asked for challenges faced by the doctor community in Balochistan said, “Our challenges have different dimension, adding that initially, they were fighting for the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to doctors and paramedics, but now for improvement in healthcare facilities as well as release of doctors salaries.
He said that a majority of our doctors have been serving in the critical units of hospitals without salaries as the health department didn’t release their dues for the past five to 10 months. Shortage of human force and health related facilities in Balochistan’s hospitals are some other challenges that are affecting doctors and paramedics directly or indirectly, he added.
The province was already in severe shortage of human force and health facilities and the coronavirus outbreak has exposed the fragility of the healthcare system in Baluchistan, Dr Yasir maintained.
He said patients not only from entire Balochistan come to dfjuhospitals in Quetta, due to better healthcare facilities here as compared to other regions of Baluchistan, but people living other side of border in Afghanistan also visit here. The YDA president said that they were already short of doctors and coronavirus has added into their troubles, adding that Baluchistan has highest ratio of its doctors and paramedics affected by Covid-19.
Talking about the government measures, he said the government doesn’t seem serious in resolve of their problems.
Dr Yasir said out of total 40 persons tested positive for coronavirus, 18 were doctors, two paramedics, and 25 people from general public.
Regarding testing capacity, he said earlier we had 250 testing capacity which has been increased to 600 per day for the past two to three days. The DHQ Quetta has 11 functional ventilators for entire Baluchistan, he said. Although, the government claims for 30 to 35 ventilators, but maximum 15 to 20 are in working condition, he added.
“We have 40 percent positive test ratio in Quetta,” he said.
Due non-availability of residential facilities for doctors and paramedics, their families are also in great trouble, as they have to go back to their homes after performing duty in critical unites. In Quetta, coronavirus has not only affected a large number of doctors and other paramedic staff, but their family members as well, the YDA president deplored.
Though the government had announced entry of doctors into the healthcare system to overcome shortage of human force but no practical step could be taken yet.
Regarding special package for healthcare staff, Dr Yasir said neither the government nor health department announced any special package, despite us losing three of our colleagues. Almost 50 percent doctors in Balochistan are working without salaries.
A senior officer in the Health Department, on condition of anonymity, said the condition of health facilities in the entire province is dismal, fearing that removing lockdown can put the healthcare system into trouble.
He said that they have only 60 ventilators for the population of 2.2 million in Balochistan, adding that the province's health infrastructure cannot bear burden of over 5,000 patients a day.
The official accepted that neither provincial government nor the health department has announced any special package for healthcare staff despite the ratio of the affected healthcare staff being the highest in Balochistan.