AMRAIZ KHAN
CoronaVirus played havoc not only with the human life but also the economy across the World and Pakistan was also one of the affectees.
Fortunately, then government of Pakistan handled this pandemic with wisdom and vision and the country stood on number five across the Globe among the countries who dealt with the Virus nicely. Definitely it was a team work and our health experts, paramedics, philanthropists, volunteers and others played their role and minimized the human and economic loss. Daily Pakistan Observer met such a team member who worked day and night during Covid-19 and served humanity.
He is Professor Dr. Muhammad Sharif Malik who is Pulmonologist, Chest Specialist, MD medicines, and a great social activist. In his short interview Professor Malik was of the view that it was the blessing of Almighty Allah that the government and public jointly handled the pandemic and got good results. He said that Pakistan with a poor health system and with less than two percent of our GDP we spend on health despite all that we played well and Pakistan was among the five countries who came out of the pandemic successfully.
As per the Economic International Index, Pakistan stood on number three among the countries who handled Corona tactfully and very less death rate was observed.
Mr. Malik said that first and foremost creditin this regard goes to the doctors, paramedics and volunteers who put their lives at risk and served humanity. Second credit he said goes to the then government and Pakistan Army who came on one page regarding the Virus and despite no guidelines from any quarter they performed well.
They, through National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) , dealt with the Virus and pulled the country out of the crisis successfully. For the last one decade we had to face two natural diseases, first Dengue endemic and second Corona pandemic. During Dengue, the current PM was then CM Punjab and I had the chance to work with him. During Covid-19 Imran Khan was Prime Minister and I worked with him also. Reason behind the successful handling of two diseases was involvement of the public and government at the same time, he said and added that when these two groups are involved in any task that would be successful. To a question about what other factors were behind the better handling of these diseases he said that the capacity and capability of our health experts was above board and it was internationally recognized. Another factor he said that population ratio of our youth which is two thirds and that was the reason that our mortality rate was less than our neighboring countries like India and Iran etc. He was of the view that immunity among the youngsters was better than that of older ones.
Third factor he disclosed about the less mortality rate in Pakistan was already use of Anti-viral and judicious use of steroids which later on became part of the guidelines against Corona.
Professor Malik said that he established a health company and started providing services at the door steps of the Corona patients when hospitals were choked and patients were dying at homes because of non-availability of treatment.
