Dr M Ahmed Abdullah
SINCE the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, the commodity that has taken the biggest hit is probably information. New information has constantly been flowing in where majority is unauthentic and non-scientific. This has given rise to many conspiracy theories; which in turn facilitate unnecessary fears and anxiety. I have been seeing many suspected COVID 19 cases at my practice, especially after the ease in the lockdown.
Most of them have mild to moderate symptoms which include fever, body aches, loss of sensations of taste and smell, and a persistent dry cough that refuses to go away along with generalized weakness. Children mostly present with diarrhea and low grade fever. Many people are visiting to alleviate their fear of minor symptoms, and get a confirmation from the doctor that they are fine. Anxiety and stress caused by the overall situation are also widespread and are worse in people with pre existing conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
Having said all this, we are also seeing a significant number of people who are unwell; they have a low oxygen saturation, high grade fever and difficult breathing. On investigation they often have a chest x-ray with typical markings showing lung involvement, yet most of these people with obvious signs and symptoms refuse hospital referrals and further investigations. They are lost to follow up, and most of the times they prefer to go back home to their loved ones and build secrecy around the disease status. The stigma against Corona Virus infections is growing swiftly.
One family told me that they were afraid of going to the hospital because the doctors there would admit them for Corona virus, even if they are suffering from a different ailment. There are rumours circulating that a certain number of people need to die for the foreign aid to reach Pakistan. The problem is that we are trying to tackle a scientific problem from a political approach. A simple way to understand is to remember the concept of fractions, from basic mathematics. If the denominator is number of infected individuals, the numerator would be the number of deaths from the disease, as the numerator is a part of the denominator; increase in which would automatically increase the death rate.
In my opinion the mass and social media health promotion campaign has back fired. People are not interested in boring scientific information, while conspiracy theories are interesting and captivating. Such ideas are also useful in arguments, because teaching scientific concepts is much harder than telling stories. One thing that we need to learn from history is that the SARS-CoV 2 virus is here to stay. It will not go away, one fine day; like all of the other infectious micro organisms that humans have been picking up from nature, during the course of our historical existence as a species. This is a golden opportunity for changing the way we view our life and our co-existence in nature with other life forms.
In Pakistan a large number of people were already unaware of social hygiene and etiquette; and the idea of personal space is also humorous to a few of us, yet this novel virus has brought these ideas to the spotlight. We must build on the momentum created and educate people. The fear of hospitals and healthcare facilities also needs to be alleviated, as people need to understand that even though there are many stories of negligence and malpractice in the health care sector, healthcare workers per se would never harm any intentionally.
—The writer is Assistant Professor Public Health, Islamabad Medical and Dental College.
