One more flight carrying Protective Gears from China to support Pakistan in fight against COVID-19 landed at the Islamabad airport earlier today.
The PPEs include N-95 face mask 15,0000, and 5,00000 surgical masks.
PPE shortages have been in the headlines ever since the coronavirus pandemic struck early last month, mainly because it was an unprecedented situation and the magnitude of demand could not have been foreseen.
For the 200,000 or so practising doctors in Pakistan, the outbreak came just six months after they were stunned by a controversial government decision to close the country’s top health professionals’ regulatory body, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).
That decision left 15,000 fresh medical graduates without certification, while around 30,000 doctors still await their routine five-year registration renewal which is necessary for them to continue to practise medicine in Pakistan and abroad, a source in the PMDC said.
The near absence of protective gear triggered unrest among this already strained community, with doctors all over the country resorting to brief protests and strikes.
