PRIME Minister Imran Khan Wednesday congratulated the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) members, Ehsaas team and the State Bank of Pakistan for effective response to COVID-19 pandemic and, above all, thanks to the mercy of Almighty Allah.
The commendation came after The Economist magazine, in its Global Normalcy Index, ranked Pakistan at number three out of 50 countries that performed well in controlling the COVID-19 spread.
It is, indeed, a matter of pride for every Pakistani that the strategy the Government adopted to check the spread of the virus, mitigate sufferings of the people and restore normalcy in the country is catching global attention and praise.
The Prime Minister is justified in showering praises to his team and institutions concerned that played a crucial role in achieving this distinction and that too at a time when a majority of the countries is still making frantic efforts to tackle the situation.
Like many other countries, Pakistan too passed through three waves and the scale and intensity of the situation triggered apprehensions that the country might plunge into a deeper crisis with serious consequences for all segments of the society especially the poor and the middle class but things remained under control – thanks to the clear-cut approach adopted by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The credit surely goes to him as he remained firm in the face of growing pressure from all directions with even medical experts warning against relaxing Covid-19 related restrictions ‘prematurely’.
His Government not only moved swiftly to implement the cash disbursal programme through the network of Ehsaas but also chalked out an enviable programme for prompt and proper diagnosis, track and trace and provision of medical care to the affected people.
The most dominant aspect of the Government’s strategy was that the situation was handled without creating panic and at no stage one got any impression about the inability of the system to tackle the situation.
It is also appreciable that the authorities concerned are also implementing the vaccination campaign in a systematic and orderly manner as the number of vaccination centres is being increased to facilitate people and supply augmented despite paucity of resources and stiff competition in procurement at global level.
It is because of all this that the country has been ranked as ‘third’ in the global normalcy index whereas neighbouring India, with greater resources at its disposal, is placed at 48 and even the United States at number 20. Hats off to the PM and his team.
