On one hand, the hospital staff is often reluctant to fulfill their ethical responsibility of informing and facilitating the relative of the deceased, whereas, on the other, the mindless angry relatives instantly jump to the conclusions and resort to the allegations of severe nature to the extent of name-calling, threats, and physical intimidation.
Be it grief or anger, it is too demoralizing for the front line workers with limited resources at their disposal to face such irrational humiliation. Health care providers are faced with double jeopardy of contracting the virus and facing intimidation of the public. The core cause of such an attitude by the people in Pakistan is the total rebuff and denial of the pandemic.
This pervasive public denial stems from the confused narrative of the federal government. In such a bleak situation, the only option is to enforce a lockdown.
We are faced with new challenges of our times requiring fresh solutions with a renewed commitment to the sanctity of life and livelihood. For example, the epidemiology of a pandemic is emerging as a new science requiring new modes of research and medical ethics, the indispensability of welfare economics is establishing itself as a new normal and a global containment strategy is needed to save humanity as this pandemic is there to stay and may mutate in some other forms.
The severity of the pandemic is such that now it can’t be predicted by way of analytics, it actually requires responsible activism. It’s our test as individuals, communities, nations, and as the citizens of the global community. This is no longer a question of mere morbidity or mortality of individuals affected by a weird virus, it is about our political choices and values. We have to move beyond self cynical foul play to a soul searching visionary way forward to save our society from ripping apart.
Poverty in Pakistan is rising from 23% to 57% in the wake of COVID-19. This bolt from the blue can reverse much of the progress made in the last few decades towards poverty reduction and livelihood sustainability by means of intricately designed social safety network.
In Sindh, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has shown a renewed commitment in his government for rights-based social protection such as those for food security, maternal, neonatal and child health, and the rights and wellbeing of women and agriculture workers.
His public commitments with respect to persons with disability have already been reflected in legislation. Other pledges such as those relating to people-centered poverty reduction efforts and creating opportunities for educated youth to enter the world of work, come together to form a comprehensive approach to social protection which is based on rights rather than charity, solidarity rather than empathy, and the promise of a renewed relationship between the people and the state. The same level of commitment is yet to be seen from the federal government.
Pakistan’s largest federally funded social safety net BISP has been at the forefront of the federal government’s containment strategy to Covid-19 related economic shock to masses.
From four million beneficiaries, the Ehsaas Emergency Cash transfers has broadened one-time cash disbursement of Rs. 12,000 to 8 million households. These emergency cash transfers were only made possible because the country has developed a nationwide cash transfer delivery system under BISP.
We have to think around the idea of further strengthening our welfare system in order to ensure institutional guarantees of the right to food and the right to work through investment in local economies and capacities.
There is an urgent need to harmonize this confused narrative around disease, lockdown and livelihood support in the wake of COVID-19, echoing conflicting perspectives from different stakeholders.
There is a concern of already constrained resource distribution between Islamabad and the provinces as the bulk of the health expenditure is being borne by the provincial governments. The provinces are taking the financial toll of administering the lockdown and providing livelihoods.
Owing to the slashing in FBR revenues, the provincial share of divisible pool taxes will be upset beside their ‘own source’ will also collapse due to lockdown. The borrowing capacity of provinces too has been largely reduced to almost nothing.
In such a grim situation, the federal government that has to show some grace in fixing the available fiscal space and to create mechanisms for the provinces to overcome their resource constraints in the wake of a pandemic.