“We were dragged through the street”
PAKISTAN - Doctors in Pakistan have warned of “deplorable” conditions on the frontlines of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, describing the pandemic as untreatable in one region and accusing police of brutally suppressing protests over working conditions.
One doctor who took part in a sit-in on Monday to protest against a lack of personal protective equipment said he had been “beaten and humiliated” by police.
“In the beginning, I thought, ‘How could police use violence against the frontline fighters of COVID19 when some days ago the same officers had saluted us for leading during the pandemic?’” said Amanullah, speaking from the police station where he was being held in Quetta, in the Balochistan region. “But we were wrong. Sticks and butts of AK47 rifles rained down on us. We were dragged through the street and thrown into trucks.” He and about 60 other doctors were held in police detention overnight and only released at midnight on Tuesday.
In the hospital where Amanullah works in the emergency ward, 16 doctors, including the head of the cardio department, have already been diagnosed with COVID19. “We can’t say that how many patients they spread the disease to,” he added.
Many of the patients who he and other emergency ward doctors had treated for noncoronavirus issues have since tested positive for the virus. However, doctors in the state-run hospital still have not been provided with PPE and in facilities that have not been designated as COVID19 hospitals there are no isolation wards for doctors who have been infected. Across the whole of Balochistan, which has become the focus of Pakistan’s coronavirus outbreak, there are just 19 ventilators. The country has reported 4,000 cases of coronavirus, but testing rates are low and doctors believe the real figure is much higher.
“There is a lot of psychological distress and trauma, as we have no idea how many patients we have infected or will be infecting,” said Amanullah. “That’s why we decided to march and demand PPE; not for ourselves, but to save the lives of many.”
(The Guardian)