In Pakistan, ICU occupancy reaches breaking point as virus cases surge

Pakistani doctors would need to triage COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks if the government failed to ensure a stricter lockdown. (Photo Courtesy: SKMCH&RC)
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Updated 27 April 2020
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In Pakistan, ICU occupancy reaches breaking point as virus cases surge

  • Private hospitals no longer accepting COVID-19 patients who require ventilators
  • At least 253 medical practitioners are infected with coronavirus with three doctors’ deaths

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani doctors would need to triage COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks if the government failed to ensure a stricter lockdown and as hospitals run out of intensive care unit [ICU] beds and ventilators, the Pakistan Medical Association said on Sunday.

Doctors and lawyers have been pushing the federal government for a stricter nationwide lockdown to ensure social distancing and stem the rapid spread of the virus. But authorities say they are trying to save people and the economy from the virus through a “smart lockdown” –   a partial lockdown of cities with some exemptions to businesses and industry.

“We are currently having around 75 to 80 percent occupancy of ICU beds, while private hospitals have stopped taking [COVID-19] patients on ventilators,” Dr. Qaisar Sajjad, secretary-general of Pakistan Medical Association told Arab News.

In the next ten days, the number of coronavirus cases is projected to reach at least 25,000, when public hospitals will not have ventilators for their seriously ill patients, he said.

“Ultimately, the doctors will have to triage between a father and a son,” he said. “And if we prioritize to treat the son first, there is no guarantee he’ll recover. We should be prepared for the worst.”

Sajjad said that his association had repeatedly warned the government about rapid growth in cases, but that their advice had fallen on deaf ears.

“If the number [of cases] keeps increasing, then nobody will be safe including the rulers,” he said.

The only treatment for the pandemic is social distancing, he said, urging the government to ensure strict lockdown at least for two weeks to flatten the curve.

Healthcare practitioners are frontline workers against the disease and are faced with multiple challenges to treat patients, including a shortage of personal protection equipment [PPE], ventilators and beds. At least 253 medical practitioners have been infected with the coronavirus in Pakistan so far including 124 doctors, 39 nurses and 90 health workers according to the Ministry of National Health Services.

“We are losing precious lives to coronavirus while the government is not consulting PMA to formulate an effective strategy to safeguard health practitioners,” Sajjad said while referring to the deaths of three doctors and a nurse due to COVID-19.

Pakistan has 1,279 public sector hospitals; 5,527 basic health units; 686 rural health centers and 5,671 dispensaries. These facilities, together with 220,829 registered doctors, 22,595 registered dentists and 108,474 registered nurses mean there is one healthcare practitioner for 963 people and one hospital bed for 1,608 people in the country of 210 million, according to Pakistan Economic Survey 2018-19.

Echoing doctors’ concerns, the Pakistan Bar Council – the highest elected body of lawyers in the country – has also urged the government to impose a stricter lockdown for two weeks to contain the spread of the virus.

“As the situation emerges, Pakistan can see a peak by end of May if the social distancing isn’t ensured in markets and mosques,” Syed Amjad Shah, vice chairman Pakistan Bar Council, told Arab News on Sunday.

He said that the courts could continue with “urgent work only” for the next two to three weeks. “We should sacrifice at least two weeks under the stringent lockdown to save our lives and protect others too around us,” Shah added.

Pakistan reported its highest 24-hour surge in virus cases since the outbreak on Sunday, with the tally at 12,723 COVID-19 cases and 269 deaths. Experts however, believe the number of suspects could be much higher in the impoverished nation as testing rates are still low.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special assistant on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Sunday that the government was doing its work, but that the public was still not practicing social distancing and self-isolation.

“We are taking into account the reservations put forward by doctors regarding leniency in the lockdown,” she said, while talking to reporters on Sunday.

However, Awan said the government’s decision of a ‘smart lockdown’ would continue to help save people from the virus. 

“Only those areas will be locked down where clusters of the virus are suspected,” she said while ignoring calls for a stricter government-imposed lockdown.


Pakistan seeks assistance from commercial banks to sell loss-making enterprises

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Pakistan seeks assistance from commercial banks to sell loss-making enterprises

  • The comments by the finance minister come ahead of a visit of an IMF team to Islamabad to review Pakistan’s progress on a $7 billion bailout
  • The government seeks to sell its stake in state-owned companies as it aims to revive the $350 billion South Asian economy under the IMF program

KARACHI: Pakistan’s finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday urged commercial banks to help the government with its plans to privatize loss-making, state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The minister’s comments came ahead of the visit of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team to Islamabad to review Pakistan’s progress on a $7 billion bailout it secured in September last year. A successful review will see the Washington-based lender release around $1 billion tranche to cash-strapped Pakistan.

Under the program, Pakistan has undertaken several reforms in taxation, energy and others sectors as well as with regard to better management and privatization of loss-making SOEs. Pakistani provincial governments have also recently enacted laws to tax farm incomes in line with the lender’s requirements.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government seeks to sell its stake in state-owned companies, including the debt-ridden Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), as it aims to revive the $350 billion South Asian economy.

“You can be on the sell side, you can be on the buy side in conjunction with the foreign partners, but we’re very serious and we will pay you,” Finance Minister Aurangzeb said at a summit of commercial bankers in Karachi.

IMF bailouts are critical for Pakistan which narrowly avoided a sovereign default in June 2023 by clinching a last-gasp, $3 billion IMF loan and is currently navigating a tricky path to economic recovery.

The government’s first attempt to privatize the national airline failed in October when the single bidder, a real estate developer, offered a rate much lower than what was anticipated by authorities.

Aurangzeb said they had had “a bit of a hiccup,” but PIA was being relaunched.

“I talked about privatization. I would encourage all the banks to actually come in and help us,” he said.

Pakistan is also working on the outsourcing of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore airports as well as privatization of power generation and distribution companies.

The South Asian country targets the single B credit rating this year to tap the Euro, US and Chinese bond markets, according to the finance minister. Islamabad plans to issue Chinese Panda bonds this year.

Aurangzeb said his team would engage with the credit rating agency Fitch during the forthcoming spring meetings in Washington.

“There’s a good opportunity that we get back into that so that we can access Euro, US dollar market,” he said.

But, Aurangzeb said, Pakistan would need to make its growth sustainable by increasing exports and productivity to break the recuring boom-and-bust cycle.

“It’s very easy, really easy to get into that trap again and say let’s go for it and that’s where we get into trouble, the imports go haywire, we run out of dollars, we get into a balance of payment problem and we go running back to the lender of the last resort [the IMF],” he said, stressing the need to fundamentally change the “DNA of Pakistan’s debt-ridden fragile economy.”


India’s inevitable win over Pakistan reveals a rivalry running on empty

Updated 24 February 2025
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India’s inevitable win over Pakistan reveals a rivalry running on empty

  • Champions Trophy clash in Dubai showed two teams moving in opposite directions
  • It was not until the 42nd over that a Pakistani batter hit a six, through Khushdil Shah

DUBAI: Living within a stone’s throw of the Dubai International Stadium, I was able to watch and experience how the atmosphere started to build before this eagerly awaited clash between India and Pakistan in the ICC Champions trophy.

More than three hours before the first ball was bowled, the horns started their familiar chorus. The rituals remained unchanged — the early pilgrimage to the stadium, the face paint, the flags. Despite this, something fundamental has changed in cricket’s most politicized rivalry. The match laid this truth bare.

What we witnessed was not a contest between two equals. Although this is still the message pumped out by the marketing machine and broadcasters continue to sell India against Pakistan as the game’s ultimate clash, the reality on the field tells a different story. In 36 C heat, we watched a stark display of two teams moving in opposing directions.

The demographic in the stands told its own story — a drowning sea of blue with mere patches of green. A visual metaphor for the competitive imbalance that has come to define these encounters. Even Pakistan’s supporters, who are usually defiant and vocal in even the toughest of times, sensed the inevitability of what was coming.

The match felt like a formality from the start. Pakistan’s approach was puzzling at best and self-destructive at worst. After losing Babar Azam early on, followed by Imam-ul-Haq, who ran himself out on his return to the team, the innings descended into an exercise of damage limitation. Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan needed to rebuild yet still try to be positive. It seemed they had a different plan altogether. Their lack of intent was so profound as to be puzzling. If they were trying to provide a basis for a late assault, then what should not happen is for them both to be dismissed in quick succession. This is exactly what happened.

Any hope of a challenging total vanished and Pakistan lost six wickets for 82 in less than 15 overs, setting India a modest total of 242 to chase.

India’s approach was the opposite of Pakistan’s. This brought the crowd alive and, for the first time, it felt that there were people in the stadium.

It was not until the 42nd over that a Pakistani batter hit a six, through Khushdil Shah. Rohit Sharma took only six balls to launch Naseem Shah for six. This was not just a shot, it was a pathological hammer blow, a statement that India no longer regards Pakistan as an equal but just another team to be dispatched.

Shubman Gill, the ICC’s new No. 1 ranked batter, had the crowd in awe of his classical shots, mixed with aggression. Even the Pakistani contingent clapped his majestic cover drives. Then came a vintage Virat Kohli performance. He played simple cricket against the spinners and attacked the seamers, saying afterwards: “I was happy with the template, it’s how I play in ODIs.”

India never left second gear because they never needed to and therein lies the problem. Rivalries require uncertainty. Both teams need to believe that they can win and, more importantly, they need both sets of fans to believe in the possibility of a victory. The Ashes have endured because, even when one team is stronger, the other always has the potential to retaliate. India against Australia captivates because both teams possess the ability to dominate.

India against Pakistan seems to have lost its edge on the field. The political tensions add edge to these encounters, but they can no longer mask the cricketing chasm that has opened up between the teams. We seem to be left with a rivalry running on nostalgia, fueled by memories of Miandad’s last-ball six in 1986 and Tendulkar’s uppercut off Shoaib Aktar’s bowling in 2003. Now, the contests are failing to create new moments worthy of that history.

The empty seats at the start of play would be unthinkable a decade ago for an India-Pakistan match. The crowd never reached its traditional fever pitch for such a match as it has become too one sided and predictable. “Men against boys,” was the sentiment being bandied about in the stands. It is hard to argue with that assessment. India’s victory felt inevitable from the moment Shakeel was caught in the deep. This is not the stuff of which great rivalries are made. They should make your heart race. They should keep you on the edge of your seat. They should make you believe in miracles.

There were no miracles, no edge-of-seat moments, no heart-racing finishes. Just the methodical dismantling of one team by another, executed with clinical efficiency that speaks of a rivalry in name only.

Perhaps it is time to be honest about what India versus Pakistan has become — a historical rivalry whose greatness now resides more in the past than the present. While the political undertones ensure these matches will always carry extra significance, the on-field contest has lost its competitive soul. For this rivalry to reclaim its place at cricket’s summit, Pakistan needs to rediscover its swagger, its intent and, most importantly, its belief. Until then, we are left with echoes of what once was, memories being played out to an increasingly indifferent audience.

The result has put India on the brink of a semi-final and Pakistan on the brink of elimination. Mathematically, there is a chance but, if New Zealand beat Bangladesh, it would mean that Pakistan becomes the first team to be ousted from the tournament, after only two matches. This will be a bitter blow. Pakistan’s return to hosting an ICC tournament will end in deep disappointment, after the high hopes which had built up.

Cricket in Pakistan has been badly buffeted from all angles in recent years. This latest defeat by India will serve only to make life in the eye of the storm even more uncomfortable.


Pakistan, Azerbaijan sign agreements on trade, energy, tourism 

Updated 24 February 2025
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Pakistan, Azerbaijan sign agreements on trade, energy, tourism 

  • Shehbaz Sharif meets Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in Baku during two-day visit
  • Aliyev says both sides discuss cooperation in energy, defense manufacturing, connectivity 

ISLAMABAD: The governments of Pakistan and Azerbaijan signed multiple agreements on Monday to enhance cooperation in the trade, energy, tourism and education sectors as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visits Baku with an eye to enhancing bilateral trade and investment with landlocked Central Asia.

Sharif arrived in Baku on Sunday for talks on defense, trade and energy, his government said. The latest visit is part of Pakistan’s broader push at economic diplomacy with the Central Asian republics, to whom it has offered access to its southern ports in Karachi and Gwadar. In July 2024, Azerbaijan announced a $2 billion investment in Pakistan during a visit by President Ilham Aliyev to Islamabad. In September last year, Pakistan signed a contract to supply JF-17 Block III fighter jets to Azerbaijan, marking the deepening of defense cooperation.

On Monday, Sharif met Aliyev in Baku for delegation-level talks and oversaw the signing of several memorandums of understanding (MoUs). 

“We received concrete projects from Pakistan, and Azerbaijani representatives are evaluating them … and today with my brother [Shehbaz Sharif] we put very ambitious but at the same time realistic target to finalize all the discussions [on projects] within one month and by the beginning of April to prepare documents for signing,” Aliyev said during a press conference with Sharif before they attended a joint business forum. 

“These projects cover infrastructure, development areas as well as energy, economic, mining and maybe some others.”

Aliyev said Pakistan and Azerbaijan had discussed cooperation in the defense sector, including the joint manufacturing of defense industry items. 

“Azerbaijan has already acquired defense equipment from Pakistan and we are satisfied with the quality of this equipment and we will continue to do it,” the Azeri leader said. 

He also spoke about increased connectivity and better transport between the two nations, as well as enhancing the bilateral trade turnover to more than its current status of “several tens of millions of US dollars.”

“I am extremely grateful to you when you announced that Azerbaijan intends to invest $2 billion in Pakistan in ventures which are mutually beneficial, which will bring dividends to both countries,” Sharif said during his speech. 

Separately, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said the two governments had signed multiple MoUs and agreements to boost bilateral cooperation in fields ranging from trade, energy, tourism and education. 

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Pakistan’s Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and Pakistan State Ooil (PSO) signed an MoU for collaboration in the Machike-Thallian-Tarujabba White Oil Pipeline Project which will stretch from the southern port city of Karachi to the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The two sides also signed an amendment agreement to an existing framework agreement for the sale and purchase of LNG cargoes.

An MoU between Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan and Pakistan’s Lahore cities was signed to promote cooperation in culture, tourism, urban development, education, science, economy and other fields. 

During Aliyev’s Pakistan visit last year, a joint committee was set up to materialize projects in trade, commerce, information technology, tourism, telecommunication, mineral resources and other sectors. Sharif said at the time the current trade volume of $100 million did not reflect the “true” trade potential between the two countries.


Pakistan reports first locally transmitted case of mpox virus

Updated 24 February 2025
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Pakistan reports first locally transmitted case of mpox virus

  • Two new cases reported in Peshawar of which one was locally transmitted
  • Pakistan reported eight cases of mpox last year and three so far this year

PESHAWAR: Pakistan has reported two new mpox cases in the northwestern city of Peshawar, of which one is the South Asian nation’s first locally transmitted case, a health official said on Monday.

Pakistan reported eight cases last year and three this year of mpox, which causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems face a higher risk of complications from the infection.

Mpox can spread through close contact with an infected person such as skin-to-skin touching or cuts, sexual activity, mouth-to-mouth contact, or breathing in infectious respiratory particles.

The health department for Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said two new cases had been reported in a couple.

“It makes two (cases) but the wife is locally transmitted, and the husband has a travel history from a Gulf country,” health department public relation officer Ataullah Khan told Arab News on Monday. 

KP Health Adviser Ihtesham Ali said in a statement on Sunday this was the first locally transmitted mpox case as all previously reported cases were linked to international travel.

KP Public Health Director Dr. Fazal Majeed said in the statement the husband had showed no symptoms upon his arrival in Pakistan but developed them by Feb. 6 and chose to stay home for nearly two weeks instead of seeking medical treatment.

The woman was hospitalized on Feb. 18 after experiencing fever, body aches and rashes on her body and inside her mouth, he said, adding that the mpox virus was confirmed on Feb. 21.

A team was formed to screen all the family members and necessary preventive measures were implemented including home isolation for the couple.

Pakistan reported its first mpox case of 2025 in Peshawar in January. 

Last year, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the spread of a new, more dangerous, mutated strain of mpox, named clade I. The strain first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread to several countries, prompting increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.

Pakistan has so far not reported any cases of the new mutation.


Pakistan PM hopes pause in Gaza fighting converts into ‘permanent ceasefire’

Updated 24 February 2025
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Pakistan PM hopes pause in Gaza fighting converts into ‘permanent ceasefire’

  • Israel, Hamas agreed to uneasy truce in January after 15 months of fighting 
  • Dream of a Palestinian state to materialize sooner than later, says Shehbaz Sharif 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday hoped that the brief pause in fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Israel turns into a permanent ceasefire so that the dream of a Palestinian state can be materialized “sooner rather than later.”

Israel and Hamas agreed to an uneasy truce in January which brought about a pause in 15 months of fighting between the two sides. The first phase of the uneasy truce is due to expire in early March and details of a planned subsequent phase have not been agreed.

Tensions, however, have once again surged despite the truce and a series of exchange of prisoners between both sides. Israel on Sunday announced an expansion of military operations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where violence has soared throughout the Gaza war. 

Speaking at a joint press conference with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, Sharif said there is “complete unanimity” among Pakistan and Azerbaijan on the need for a two-state solution to resolve the Middle East crisis. 

“And I think today is the time that this pause in Gaza will now be converted into a permanent ceasefire,” Sharif told reporters. “And then I think the dream of a two-state [solution] of this area, the Palestine state, will be materialized in times to come sooner rather than later.”

Israel killed around 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza via relentless aerial bombardment and ground military offensives since Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people and Hamas taking 251 Israeli hostages. 

Since the ceasefire took hold on Jan. 19, Hamas has released 25 living Israeli hostages in staged ceremonies, often flanked by masked gunmen and forced to speak.

After six were freed on Saturday, Israel put off the planned release of more than 600 Palestinians, citing what Netanyahu called “humiliating ceremonies” in Gaza.

Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters.”

Since the beginning of Israel’s war in 2023, the South Asian country has dispatched several relief consignments for Gaza, besides establishing the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund’ that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.