Saturday, April 11, 2020
Opinion: When the Pandemic Leaves Us Alone, Anxious and Depressed
Within weeks, the familiar symptoms of mental illness have become universal reality. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found nearly half of respondents said their mental health was being harmed by the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly everyone I know has been thrust in varying degrees into grief, panic, hopelessness and paralyzing fear. If you say, “I’m so terrified I can barely sleep,” people may reply, “What sensible person isn’t?”
But that response can cause us to lose sight of the dangerous secondary crisis unfolding alongside the more obvious one: an escalation in both short-term and long-term clinical mental illness that may endure for decades after the pandemic recedes. When everyone else is experiencing depression and anxiety, real, clinical mental illness can get erased.
While both the federal and local governments (some alarmingly slower than others) have responded to the spread of the coronavirus in critical ways, acknowledgment of the mental illness vulnerabilities has been cursory. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has so far enlisted more than 8,000 mental health providers to help New Yorkers in distress, is a fortunate exception.
The Chinese government moved psychologists and psychiatrists to Wuhan during the first stage of self-quarantine. No comparable measures have been initiated by our federal government.The unequal treatment of the two kinds of health — physical over mental — is consonant with our society’s ongoing disregard for psychological stability. Insurance does not offer real parity of coverage, and treatment for mood disorders is generally deemed a luxury. But we are in a dual crisis of physical and mental health, and those facing psychiatric challenges deserve both acknowledgment and treatment.
The mental health ramifications of pandemics were identified long ago but have been studiously ignored by the federal government. A study following the H1N1 outbreak in 2013 said: “Because pandemic disasters are unique and do not include congregate sites for prolonged support and recovery, they require specific response strategies to ensure the behavioral health needs of children and families. Pandemic planning must address these needs.” Another observed, “While information for the medical aspects of disaster surge is increasingly available, there is little guidance for health care facilities on how to manage the psychological aspects of large-scale disasters that might involve a surge of psychological casualties.”
There are roughly four responses to the coronavirus crisis and the contingent social isolation. Some people take it all in stride and rely on a foundation of unshakable psychic stability. Others constitute the worried well, who need only a bit of psychological first aid. A third group who have not previously experienced these disorders are being catapulted into them. Last, many who were already suffering from major depressive disorder have had their condition exacerbated, developing what clinicians call “double depression,” in which a persistent depressive disorder is overlaid with an episode of unbearable pain.
Social isolation generates at least as much escalation of mental illness as does fear of the virus itself. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychologist, found that social isolation is twice as harmful to a person’s physical health as obesity. Solitary confinement in prison systems causes panic attacks and hallucinations, among other symptoms. Isolation can even make people more vulnerable to the disease it is intended to forestall: Researchers have determined that “a lonely person’s immune system responds differently to fighting viruses, making them more likely to develop an illness.”
The belief that things are not OK is reasonable; the belief that nothing will ever be OK again appears to indicate a clinical condition. A gradual adjustment to our changed circumstance is the appropriate trajectory; the feeling that every day this becomes increasingly unbearable is a pathological one. There is the thinnest of membranes between sensible and unreasonable, spiraling anxiety. I know I have both, but trying to separate them is like untangling the Gordian knot.
We have two triggers for mental illness in the current crisis: sadness when we fear for our lives and stress when our emotional attachments decay as a result of social isolation. We as a country have not taken adequate steps to address either of these crises and fall particularly short on the second.
The spread of the virus cannot be mitigated for now, but the anticipatory fear it instigates can be tempered through the time-honored techniques of augmented medication and increased contact with therapists. It is not a weakness or a failure to seek such supports. Do what it takes to head off a breakdown. It is a lot easier to prevent than it is to repair, and we have good tools for psychic overload.
Isolation, too, has remedies. Zoom cocktails and FaceTime do not temper it adequately for many people, and it is to be determined on a case-by-case basis when the mental health benefits of seeing someone you love (even outside and six feet away) are greater than the physical health dangers of such encounters.
Fear of contagion has pushed people into behavior that exacerbates depression and anxiety and so can lead to suicide — raising the mortality of Covid-19 among people who don’t even have it. Lonely people can succumb to “touch deprivation” and need to be embraced. Dr. Tiffany Field, the director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, has argued that touch deprivation exacerbates depression and weakens the immune system; positive touch stimulates the vagal nerve and reduces cortisol, a stress hormone that can impair immune response. We should be figuring out when and how people deprived of touch can get the physical contact they need as safely as possible. It won’t be completely safe — but neither is their sensual deprivation. If people are dying from going untouched, then touch, however regulated, becomes a necessary remedy. It is neither expensive nor complicated.
These are the ways to transcend pathology. As someone who already had depression and anxiety, I didn’t want a crash course in empathy, but I’ve had one. I feel singularly well placed to comfort those who are taking their first deep plunge into depression, and I reach out daily to those who need contact, psychological or physical. It has become a calling for me. I can help them assess what is pathological and remediable. I know these unwelcome alleyways — and the paths out of them — like the back of my hand. It’s not that an antidepressant will make people unafraid of this mysterious and awful virus, nor that a single hug will mitigate their profound aloneness, but they can help.
The other day, our fifth-grade son said shakily: “How long until I get to see my friends again? What are we going to do if they cancel camp?” And then he asked more tremulously: “And what if you and Papa both die? What will happen to me?” Was he showing some of my depressive tendencies, or was he just frightened and sad? He snapped out of it pretty quickly and hasn’t returned to the topic, though I’ve made it clear that he can. It is my galvanizing project to keep up a good face for him. Being forced to deny depression can be a dangerous social tyranny, but choosing to vanquish outward signs of it for someone more vulnerable pulls me back from the brink. Partly in his name, I’ve adjusted up my meds and am in contact with my therapist, and I make sure to hug him and hug my husband, knowing that all three of us save one another.
I take a daily walk through the woods with my son and our dog. Sometimes, my son and I jump on the trampoline, which, despite jolts to my back, is immensely physically cozy. My husband, my son and I pile in together to watch a movie every night; my husband is also obsessively reading books about epidemics, from the Black Plague to the 1918 influenza pandemic, and teaching himself Portuguese online. We all find comfort in our own curious ways.
The authorities keep saying that the coronavirus will pass like the flu for most people who contract it, but that it is more likely to be fatal for older people and those with physically compromising preconditions. The list of conditions should, however, include depression generated by fear, loneliness or grief. We should recognize that for a large proportion of people, medication is not an indulgence and touch is not a luxury. And that for many of us, the protocol of Clorox wipes and inadequate masks is nothing compared with the daily task of disinfecting one’s own mind.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/opinion/coronavirus-depression-anxiety.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
#USACOVID19 - Why the White House is highlighting virus 'positivity rates'
A key metric is cropping up more and more at the coronavirus task force briefings.
White House response coordinator Deborah Birx on Wednesday and Thursday highlighted what she called the positive rate of coronavirus tests, a figure that helps measure the severity of the outbreak in different parts of the country.
Why is this measure important? While much attention has been placed on the number of tests being conducted, the proportion of tests that come back positive can offer both a broader and more detailed view of the pandemic.
“Epidemiology is a bit like baseball,” two public health experts, Farzad Mostashari and Ezekiel Emanuel, recently wrote in the news publication Stat. “Knowing that a ball player has gotten 134 hits isn’t that informative. What is informative is knowing that those 134 hits were made during 335 at-bats, which translates into a batting average of .400.”
Knowing how that percentage of positive tests is changing can help determine the course of the outbreak, they wrote.
Birx used the measure Wednesday, along with the number of new cases per day, to contrast the severity of the outbreak in two of the biggest U.S. cities.
New York had a positivity rate of more than 40 percent, with 11,000 new cases per day. In contrast, Los Angeles, which along with much of the West Coast is seen as a relative success story, had a positivity rate of just 9 percent and 800 new cases.
“And so this really gives us some idea of what it takes,” Birx said, pointing to Los Angeles. “They have been continuously mitigating.”
Areas at risk of becoming the next epicenter had positivity rates between those of New York and Los Angeles, effectively serving as a warning sign. New Orleans had a positivity rate of 28 percent, followed by Detroit at 26 percent and Chicago at 18 percent.
The metric can also be read as an indicator that the country is not doing enough testing.
Nationally, the positivity rate of coronavirus tests is about 20 percent. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said that is “absolutely” a sign of insufficient testing.
He also noted that the positivity rate has increased in the past two weeks, an indication that the U.S. is not ramping up its total number of tests fast enough to keep pace with the spreading virus.
“A very high percent positive rate means you're probably missing a lot of people who have the disease,” he said, suggesting New York may have even more unconfirmed cases.
But in places such as Los Angeles, where the rate is much lower, that is a sign “there probably aren’t a lot of cases that I’m not seeing.”
Los Angeles County on Friday extended its stay-at-home order to May 15. It was previously scheduled to end on April 19.
The positivity rate certainly has its limits as a metric, though, mainly because it depends in large part on who is getting tested.
The bulk of testing is not being carried out in a systematic or randomized way that would best answer questions such as how far the virus has spread in a community.
“It can be so strongly influenced by just exactly what are the criteria for testing,” said Jeffrey Martin, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco.
He said better metrics for the severity of an outbreak are deaths and intensive care unit admissions.
To help improve the reliability of the positivity rate, Mostashari, a co-author of the Stat article, called for comparing test results from a “consistent setting,” such as the emergency room, as a more standardized metric than the current “haphazard” testing analysis.
Mostashari, CEO of the health care company Aledade and a former New York health official, called for “testing consistently in those places apples to apples and then [comparing the] positivity rate.”
He said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should put forward clearer requirements for labs to report details of their results to aid in that effort.
A clear picture of how many people in a community, even those who did not have symptoms, have had the virus likely will not come until a different kind of testing takes hold: blood tests known as serology tests. Those can determine if people have ever had the coronavirus, to measure the prevalence of the virus in a community.
“What we really are all waiting for is seroprevalence,” said Donald Thea, a professor of global health at Boston University.
Birx made a similar point at the White House on Friday by pointing to data that could come from a finger-prick blood test being developed.
“That’s a question we still have,” she said. “Is this the tip of the iceberg, or is this half the iceberg or three-quarters of the iceberg, what we have seen to date?”
https://thehill.com/homenews/coronavirus-report/492311-white-house-highlighting-virus-positivity-rates
https://thehill.com/homenews/coronavirus-report/492311-white-house-highlighting-virus-positivity-rates
#Pakistan - #CoronavirusPandemic - Situation needs a leader, not a straggler
- Tigers, like other cats, can catch coronavirus
After wasting weeks in hemming and hawing over the situation created by COVID-19, the PM has finally concluded that what he has in hand is a hot potato. He seems to believe now that the disease might not feel like mild flu, and much more is needed to deal with it than waiting for the approaching hot and dry weather or relying on the country’s sizeable youth force and people’s unlimited faith in the Almighty. While a few weeks earlier he took solace from the idea that only four to five percent of people would need to visit hospitals, he now fears that the existing facilities might fall short.
It is not enough to suddenly wake up and say the virus situation can worsen in coming days. Instead of being told that there is problem ahead, what the people expect from a PM is to be told the way the government intends to tackle it. In case they are convinced that the remedy being suggested sounds sensible they would generally bite the bullet. The PM however is still trailing behind events without a plan.
After taking lightly the advice to conduct mass tests for weeks, the government has belatedly decided to expand the tests from 3,000 to 25,000 a day by the end of the month, besides increasing the number of testing laboratories. The PM however still remains wedded to the idea that lockdowns are not practical because unlike China the government lacks the capacity to reach out to the millions who would become jobless. Political exigencies stop the PTI administration from using the local governments which are the most effective vehicle to locate and approach those in need of help.
The PM however wants to make political capital out of coronavirus by deploying untrained youth carrying the party’s trademark of corona tigers, thus exposing them to disease.
In regions like FATA having no Internet facility or far flung areas of Balochistan, KP or Sindh where many lack access to mobile phones, the only credible way to provide both funds or food is through local bodies. Most of all the people want the PM to play a leadership role rather than act as a straggler in the fight against coronavirus.
#Pakistan - #CoronavirusPandemic - Parliament and the Pandemic
By: Sherry Rehman
As global coronavirus cases passed the million mark on Thursday, the world struggles to cope with containment and mitigation without any roadmaps for such a pandemic. With the situation in Pakistan still at a stage where the virus is spreading without knowledge or capacity to test, isolate, treat, the necessity of harsh lockdowns confronts every sector of the economy and every aspect of human life, so dependent on social activity for work, prayer, communities and the business of government. Life in the times of corona, as we see it, has altered how societies work, and will continue to re-shape how the workplace as well as human activity can adapt to the possibility of its recurrence while we re-assess national priorities. Even as we speak, urgent choices at all levels have to be made with limited resources.
As part of the first-step lockdown and air travel bans, Pakistan’s parliament, both the upper and lower Houses, are in forced recess, understandably missing their scheduled calendar dates for sessions. Yet as policy decisions unfold from Islamabad as well as provincial capitals, the need for parliaments to exercise oversight on emergency measures, fiscal re-prioritisation, revenue disbursements, social transfers to the immediately vulnerable, and health as well as other priorities, re-emerges as essential. In the search for solutions, the one advantage that global connectivity can leverage right now are internet and tech-based communications for virtual conferencing. For this, Pakistan’s parliament has taken some tentative measures to resume skeletal committee sessions, while observing social-distancing mandates.
So far, one specially notified committee of parliamentary leaders from both the Senate and the National Assembly has met to discuss the corona crisis, and shape shared responses, but the meeting was marred by the PM making his own virtual intervention and then quitting the meeting without listening to any of the political leadership present. It was a wasted opportunity to not only create political capital for the government itself, but to build a platform of unified national responses given the unprecedented nature of the threat. All opposition parties had clearly indicated their willingness to let partisan politics take second place to protecting the people of Pakistan from the pandemic, but the PM decided he had better things to do, unfortunately. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had even stoically refused to criticise the PM in a press conference convened to create leadership messaging on the need for social distancing and Sindh’s measures in coping with the emergent risks. This must change if all provinces and the federal government are to work in lockstep with another, which is essential. The coronavirus emergency is a national challenge and must be treated as such.
Although Pakistan’s parliament has not been a big innovator, both Speaker Asad Qaiser and Chairman Sanjrani are quite open to ideas at this point. Despite not having the initial capacity to host web meetings, they have gone further than Pakistan’s neighbours in instituting special committees and creating common ground in crisis. So far, in the SAARC region, only Pakistan, Bhutan and the Maldives are taking the lead in convening online meetings. If the pandemic continues to rage through South Asia, with low health infrastructure and high poverty indices, a round of essential committee meetings such as Health, Finance, Planning, IT, Interior, Law and others must be convened online to plan for contingent futures. Parliament’s urgent role of scrutinising government, authorising spending, making laws, and providing leadership during difficult times cannot be pushed aside. MNAs, MPAs, senators are swamped for distress relief provision, health assistance and other queries from an anxious public, which also suggests that physical sittings in some remote future cannot be the only way out. The provinces too may need to follow suit.
What can be done to plan ahead? Parliament should urgently ramp up its e-tech capacity by seeking changes in its internal budget. All members of the budget committees can be mobilised on the web, and there is little likelihood of any party objecting to diverting resources for urgent staff training and higher internet coverage. At the same time, resources and fresh protocols for protecting parliament’s staff will have to be created. Senate staff runs at 1,115 people, while 2,200 NA staff including CDA officials are posted during sessions. They are extremely vulnerable to infection in cramped quarters due to low office space in parliament building, so telework facilities must be organised for them. According to the International Parliamentary Union, this is the path the EU is taking. For essential committees like the Coronavirus Monitoring Committee that will meet part virtually, part physically, on 6th April, transparency can be ensured by the live broadcast infrastructure which is already in place, easily tweaked by PTV.
For legislation, rules will have to be made to allow online voting, which parliaments are testing. To facilitate this in Pakistan, a joint rules committee meeting of both Houses can be called online immediately. The European Parliament has trial-run email voting already, while in Spain, which has been hit hard by crisis, a remote voting infrastructure has been set up even before the pandemic to ensure participation to reduce legislators’ travel load. The UK, on which Pakistan and India’s Westminster system of government is modelled, has just decided to institute virtual parliament by the end of the month after a strong intervention by Speaker Hoyle in the wake of the opposition’s demands for scrutiny of the government’s response to COVID-19. Security issues for remote voting, to ensure votes are cast legitimately with identification, can easily be overcome through biometric applications or device-registration. The Brazilian parliament is asking for a device to be registered with MPs, for instance, with an internal application for voting. Pakistan’s parliament will have to invest in a system that can carry the bandwidth in times when web services are under sudden load, and also ensure that each member of parliament is able to function from an environment where the internet connection is fast and reliable.
For democracy to be meaningful, its institutions must adapt to the future and to public needs in real time. Pakistan’s economy is on ventilator, and little coordination is visible from Islamabad. Our informal sector and daily wagers are in urgent need of social protection, while health professionals are in desperate need of equipment. Parliaments must seek answers on economic transparency and aid inflows while ensuring the delivery of government benefits with both care and compassion. For web hosting large numbers, many Parliaments are turning to commercial providers offering cloud-based solutions such as Office 365, including UK, Netherlands Senate, the Danish Folkinget, and Norway’s Stortinget. Bhutan is using G-Suite from Google Cloud, while Zoom was used by Pakistan’s parliament.
There is much work to be done in the days ahead. Nothing is certain anymore, and the changed world will require new ways of working, travelling, and the questioning of orthodoxies, both economic and otherwise. Parliaments all over the world cannot be exempt from exploring urgent innovations to conduct crucial business. Our task as representatives has become even more acute in times of crisis and legislators must continue to be answerable and available to the public.
#CoronavirusPandemic - Lockdown? Pakistan Not Convinced
When a global pandemic burns through a country it first tests both its leadership as well as its national public resolve. In Pakistan much more is being tested, including the limits of the healthcare system across the federation, and the state ability to mobilise responses and shape civic engagement.
First things first. The one crucial measure that arrests the spread of Coronavirus is social distancing. Of this we are daily reminded by social media updates received from countries that learnt this too late, after mounting death tolls and widespread economic collapse. Lockdown to save lives is the message broadcast from hospital wards abroad, quarantine zones, and even our own public advisories. With 700 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Pakistan in a matter of days, and very likely thousands more on the way, it is certain that Pakistan will face its greatest challenge yet. But the crisis does not end with scaled up healthcare and lifesaving equipment; there is a simultaneous tide of resistance to public order that governments must contend with.
From its earliest outbreak in China in late December 2019, and thereafter to the rest of the world, the Coronavirus pandemic has panned out in full public knowledge through social media, down to its latest developments today in each city across Pakistan. Television channels have been dedicating most of their programming to discussion and updates on the disease; and it is without question an unprecedented emergency causing greater loss and disruption than any other global crisis. Except that this information has left a cross section of Pakistani citizens unmoved, who perceive this analysis to be exaggerated and misleading. Public places like markets and restaurants in Pakistan are experiencing an unceasing footfall, even as the Prime Minister made a televised appeal to the nation to stay home and prevent transmission of the disease. This is not untypical of public reactions elsewhere: in Italy as well as Iran, where the death tolls are highest todate, the public did not heed advisories meant to save hundreds of precious lives.
Both federal and provincial governments’ repeated directives to undertake isolation and social distancing have come to no avail. The closure of public spaces and cancellation of large public gatherings, and in some cases stricter measures like raids at wedding halls, were correctly aimed at prevention of the virus on a large scale, but given the exponential spread of the disease a lockdown must be brought about rightaway. Earlier with just a 100 cases confirmed, the government announced an indefinite closure of all public and privates schools, colleges, and universities across the country. Public congregations were cancelled through the imposition of Section 144. With rapidly increasing cases and thousands of untested carriers, nothing short of a lockdown will save the world’s fifth most populous country from collapse.
Of course leadership makes all the difference. Sindh has demonstrated far more adaptive capacity to control and quarantine the disease, given that the province has the highest number of confirmed cases, and earned the WHO’s praise for proactively containing its spread. The federal government on the other hand, has moved much slower in its response, and continues to fumble over prevention and containment mechanisms across Punjab, the most populous province. A crucial month since the pandemic arrived, there is no comprehensive information regime, nor a communications strategy that guides citizens on what to expect.
But citizens disregard public service announcements even during the best of times. With the stakes for survival at an all time high, what can explain this resistance to public order? A large cohort of citizens is unwilling to believe that the pandemic is as deadly as the doctors, media, and governments worldwide are claiming it to be; that an international conspiracy has been launched to subvert the nation by spreading a malicious virus. Multiple Facebook pages are curating content to this effect, freely circulating on Whatsapp to colloquial readerships that accept fake news. Much of this content offers specialized Islamic prescriptions for disease, and suggests traditional medicine and faith healing alternatives. This group is significant both in voice and number, as evident from the proliferation of their webpages, as well as the multitudes that subscribe to and endorse this worldview. None of this comes as a surprise in Pakistan where traditional skepticism of governments, alongwith deeply held convictions against modernity have had a long history. A time of crisis further impairs good judgement, and people collectively indulge a confirmation bias that endorses their own beliefs while rejecting any information contradicting it.
There are also those openly defying the ban knowing full well the risks associated with public congregation. This includes citizens insisting on holding wedding receptions, mosques performing Friday jamaat, private schools refusing to shut down, putting employees at risk of contracting and transmitting Coronavirus. Punitive action by police has forced some to close down, but the resistance to public order is part and parcel of a poor attitude towards political obligation, or the moral duty to obey directives issued in public interest. This attitude values self-interest above the safety and security of others, and will become more evident as the cordon extends into days and weeks. It also makes clear how far we can go with collective action in Pakistan.
Crises like this pandemic often lay bare our worst inclinations, as well as provide an opportunity to reorder social priorities and respond to socio-economic groups experiencing the outbreak of Coronavirus differently. The fundamental problem with lockdowns is that social distancing is not an option for vulnerable groups, like daily wage earners forced to find work in partially shut down markets. Pakistan’s informal employment is as high as 70 percent, and poverty levels among informal workers are twice as high compared to formal labour. Not all informal workers are daily wage earners, but face similar uncertainties should they be let off during the pandemic. In context, the national poverty line will stand at an estimated 40% this summer, compounding vulnerabilities for those furthest removed from state benefits, including women and other marginalized groups. The pandemic will take away their livelihoods, as well as their bread earners who cannot reduce their exposure to the virus. As repeatedly warned by international agencies, COVID-19 must be contained among these vulnerable groups who have no recourse to healthcare other than overburdened and poorly managed public hospitals. Numerous online collectives have emerged to pool monetary support and food rations for those in need, in addition to mobilizing funds for medical equipment for healthcare facilities across the country, but more coordinated executive action must respond to this at federal and provincial levels.
All crises necessitate collective responsibility. Those of us with resources, information and mobilizing capacity can help make a larger difference. The gap between those unwilling to prevent the pandemic and those who are defenceless against it must be overcome by civic influencing and stricter governmental control. A robust federal information regime must come in place – going beyond individual spokespersons addressing a press conference or talk show – and provide uniform instruction on disaster preparedness and the impending fallout of the pandemic, now turning into a death toll. The whole gamut of preventive measures must be communicated daily, alongwith a modicum of scientific reasoning to convince citizens why and how these measures will be useful. A lockdown is the only option at hand now, even though there are naysayers warning against an economic meltdown. Saving lives has to take precedence over saving the economy. Yes, altering political convictions and social behaviour in the face of any disaster is difficult, but will we allow corporate interests and the public’s recklessness overwhelm our survival?
بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ – ایک انقلابی پروگرام
تحریر: آفتاب احمد گورائیہ
پاکستان جیسے ترقی پذیر ملکوں میں سوشل ایکشن پروگرامز حکومتوں کی ترجیحات کی فہرست میں عام
بے نظیرانکم سپورٹ پروگرام کو ملکی اور غیر ملکی سطح پر ایک کامیاب سوشل ایکشن پروگرام کے طور پر مانا جاتا ہے. اِس پروگرام کی کامیابی اور افادیت کا اندازہ اِس بات سے بھی لگایا جا سکتا ہے کہ سن 2013 میں پیپلزپارٹی کی حکومت کے ختم ہونے کے بعد سات سالوں میں نہ تو ن لیگ کی حکومت اِس پروگرام کو ختم کر سکی اور نہ ہی پی ٹی آئی ایسا کر سکی ہے. پی ٹی آئی کی حکومت نے انتہائی بغض اور نفرت کی بنا پر بینظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام کا نام تبدیل کرکے احساس کفالت پروگرام ضرور رکھ دیا ہے. یہ علیحدہ بات ہے کہ پی ٹی آئی کی حکومت ایسا کرنے کی مجاز نہیں تھی کیونکہ صدر آصف علی زرداری نے اسی خدشے کے پیشِ نظر بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام کو آئینی تخفظ دے دیا تھا. یہی وجہ ہے کہ آج کل تقسیم ہونے والی رقوم کی رسید پر اب بھی بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام ہی لکھا نظر آتا ہے. محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو شہید کی تصویر بہرحال کارڈ پر سے ختم کر دی گئی ہے.
تحریک انصاف کی حکومت آجکل زور و شور سے احساس کفالت پروگرام (بے نظیر اِنکم سپورٹ پروگرام) کے تحت بارہ ہزار روپے فی کس کی تقسیم کا کریڈٹ لینے میں مصروف ہے اور وزیراعظم سمیت تمام پروپیگنڈہ مشینری اِس چیز کا جھوٹا پروپیگنڈہ کر رہی ہے کہ حکومت نے تاریح کا سب سے بڑا ریلیف پیکج دے دیا ہے. ہمیشہ کی طرح اِس حکومت کا سارا پروپیگنڈہ کُلی طور پر جھوٹ پر مبنی ہے. حقیقت یہ ہے کہ لوگوں کو چار مہینے کے پیسے اکٹھے دئیے جا رہے ہیں جِس کا اعتراف چیرمین پروگرام ثانیہ نشتر ٹی وی چینل پر برملا کر چُکی ہیں. تین مہینے کے پیسے اکٹھے دینے کو موجودہ حکومت کا جھوٹا میڈیا ہی تاریح کا سب سے بڑا ریلیف پیکج قرار دے سکتا ہے حقیقت کا اِس سے دُور کا بھی تعلق نہیں ہے. سن 2010 کے سیلاب کے موقع پر اُس وقت پیپلزپارٹی کی حکومت نے سیلاب زدگان میں اِس سے زیادہ رقم صرف تین دِنوں میں تقسیم کی تھی.
اب آتے ہیں امدادی رقم کی ترسیل کے طریقہ کار کی طرف. بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام کی رقم پہلے پہل ڈاک کے ذریعے تقسیم کی جاتی تھی لیکن بعد میں رقم ماہانہ طور پر بینک اکاونٹس میں ٹرانسفر کی جانے لگی. موجودہ ارسطو حکومت نے کرونا جیسی آفت کے موقع پر جب پُورا ملک لاک ڈاون کی حالت میں ہے فیصلہ کیا ہے کہ لوگوں میں نقد رقم تقسیم کی جائے گی. اِس فیصلے کے نتیجے میں پورے ملک میں رقم کی تقسیم کے موقع پر بڑے بڑے اجتماع نظر آنے لگے ہیں جو بڑے پیمانے پر کرونا کے پھیلاو کا باعث بن سکتے ہیں. موجودہ حکومت کا یہ قدم شائد ان کو وہ کریڈٹ تو نہ دِلا سکے جِس کے لئے اتنا بھونڈا اور غلط قدم اٹھایا گیا ہے لیکن حکومت کا یہ غلط فیصلہ ملک میں بڑے پیمانے پر کرونا سے ہلاکتوں کا باعث ضرور بن سکتا ہے اور اس کی براہ راست ذمہ داری وزیراعظم اور وفاقی حکومت پر عائد ہو گی.
یہاں یہ چیز بھی یاد رکھنی پڑے گی کہ مستقبل میں بھی رقوم کی ترسیل بینک کے ذریعے ہی ہو گی تو اِس مرحلے پر بڑے بڑے اجتماع اکٹھے کر کے رقم تقسیم کرنے کا فیصلہ ملک دشمنی اور عوام دشمنی کے سوا اور کُچھ نہیں ہے.
یہاں مجھے پنجاب اسمبلی میں پیپلزپارٹی کے پارلیمانی لیڈر حسن مرتضی صاحب کا سپیکر پنجاب اسمبلی سے بے ساختہ پنجابی زبان میں ادا کیا گیا مکالمہ بڑا برمحل لگ رہا ہے جب حسن مرتضی صاحب نے حکومت کی طرف اشارہ کرتے ہوئے کہا “ایناں کولوں نہیں جے چلنی حکومت. اے نااہل نے نالائق نے سلیکٹڈ نے” (ان سے نہیں چلنی حکومت یہ نااہل ہیں نالائق ہیں سلیکٹڈ ہیں). حسن مرتضی صاحب کی بات حرف بحرف درست ثابت ہو رہی ہے. ایمرجنسی کے حالات میں جب لاک ڈاؤن کی وجہ سے لوگوں کی امداد کرنے کا مرحلہ درپیش ہے تو حکومت کے پاس بے نظیر اِنکم سپورٹ پروگرام کی صورت میں بہترین پلیٹ فارم اور ڈیٹا موجود ہونے کے باوجود حکومت نے لوگوں کی امداد میں نہ صرف غیر معمولی تاخیر کر دی ہے بلکہ اب اگر امداد دینا شروع بھی کی ہے تو اپنی نالائقی کی وجہ سے بڑے بڑے ہجوم اکٹھے کر کے کرونا کے خلاف جنگ کو ناقابل تلافی نقصان پہنچا دیا ہے جس کا خمیازہ قوم کو آنے والے دنوں میں بھگتنا پڑ سکتا ہے.
بے نظیرانکم سپورٹ پروگرام کو ملکی اور غیر ملکی سطح پر ایک کامیاب سوشل ایکشن پروگرام کے طور پر مانا جاتا ہے. اِس پروگرام کی کامیابی اور افادیت کا اندازہ اِس بات سے بھی لگایا جا سکتا ہے کہ سن 2013 میں پیپلزپارٹی کی حکومت کے ختم ہونے کے بعد سات سالوں میں نہ تو ن لیگ کی حکومت اِس پروگرام کو ختم کر سکی اور نہ ہی پی ٹی آئی ایسا کر سکی ہے. پی ٹی آئی کی حکومت نے انتہائی بغض اور نفرت کی بنا پر بینظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام کا نام تبدیل کرکے احساس کفالت پروگرام ضرور رکھ دیا ہے. یہ علیحدہ بات ہے کہ پی ٹی آئی کی حکومت ایسا کرنے کی مجاز نہیں تھی کیونکہ صدر آصف علی زرداری نے اسی خدشے کے پیشِ نظر بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام کو آئینی تخفظ دے دیا تھا. یہی وجہ ہے کہ آج کل تقسیم ہونے والی رقوم کی رسید پر اب بھی بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام ہی لکھا نظر آتا ہے. محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو شہید کی تصویر بہرحال کارڈ پر سے ختم کر دی گئی ہے.
تحریک انصاف کی حکومت آجکل زور و شور سے احساس کفالت پروگرام (بے نظیر اِنکم سپورٹ پروگرام) کے تحت بارہ ہزار روپے فی کس کی تقسیم کا کریڈٹ لینے میں مصروف ہے اور وزیراعظم سمیت تمام پروپیگنڈہ مشینری اِس چیز کا جھوٹا پروپیگنڈہ کر رہی ہے کہ حکومت نے تاریح کا سب سے بڑا ریلیف پیکج دے دیا ہے. ہمیشہ کی طرح اِس حکومت کا سارا پروپیگنڈہ کُلی طور پر جھوٹ پر مبنی ہے. حقیقت یہ ہے کہ لوگوں کو چار مہینے کے پیسے اکٹھے دئیے جا رہے ہیں جِس کا اعتراف چیرمین پروگرام ثانیہ نشتر ٹی وی چینل پر برملا کر چُکی ہیں. تین مہینے کے پیسے اکٹھے دینے کو موجودہ حکومت کا جھوٹا میڈیا ہی تاریح کا سب سے بڑا ریلیف پیکج قرار دے سکتا ہے حقیقت کا اِس سے دُور کا بھی تعلق نہیں ہے. سن 2010 کے سیلاب کے موقع پر اُس وقت پیپلزپارٹی کی حکومت نے سیلاب زدگان میں اِس سے زیادہ رقم صرف تین دِنوں میں تقسیم کی تھی.
اب آتے ہیں امدادی رقم کی ترسیل کے طریقہ کار کی طرف. بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام کی رقم پہلے پہل ڈاک کے ذریعے تقسیم کی جاتی تھی لیکن بعد میں رقم ماہانہ طور پر بینک اکاونٹس میں ٹرانسفر کی جانے لگی. موجودہ ارسطو حکومت نے کرونا جیسی آفت کے موقع پر جب پُورا ملک لاک ڈاون کی حالت میں ہے فیصلہ کیا ہے کہ لوگوں میں نقد رقم تقسیم کی جائے گی. اِس فیصلے کے نتیجے میں پورے ملک میں رقم کی تقسیم کے موقع پر بڑے بڑے اجتماع نظر آنے لگے ہیں جو بڑے پیمانے پر کرونا کے پھیلاو کا باعث بن سکتے ہیں. موجودہ حکومت کا یہ قدم شائد ان کو وہ کریڈٹ تو نہ دِلا سکے جِس کے لئے اتنا بھونڈا اور غلط قدم اٹھایا گیا ہے لیکن حکومت کا یہ غلط فیصلہ ملک میں بڑے پیمانے پر کرونا سے ہلاکتوں کا باعث ضرور بن سکتا ہے اور اس کی براہ راست ذمہ داری وزیراعظم اور وفاقی حکومت پر عائد ہو گی.
یہاں یہ چیز بھی یاد رکھنی پڑے گی کہ مستقبل میں بھی رقوم کی ترسیل بینک کے ذریعے ہی ہو گی تو اِس مرحلے پر بڑے بڑے اجتماع اکٹھے کر کے رقم تقسیم کرنے کا فیصلہ ملک دشمنی اور عوام دشمنی کے سوا اور کُچھ نہیں ہے.
یہاں مجھے پنجاب اسمبلی میں پیپلزپارٹی کے پارلیمانی لیڈر حسن مرتضی صاحب کا سپیکر پنجاب اسمبلی سے بے ساختہ پنجابی زبان میں ادا کیا گیا مکالمہ بڑا برمحل لگ رہا ہے جب حسن مرتضی صاحب نے حکومت کی طرف اشارہ کرتے ہوئے کہا “ایناں کولوں نہیں جے چلنی حکومت. اے نااہل نے نالائق نے سلیکٹڈ نے” (ان سے نہیں چلنی حکومت یہ نااہل ہیں نالائق ہیں سلیکٹڈ ہیں). حسن مرتضی صاحب کی بات حرف بحرف درست ثابت ہو رہی ہے. ایمرجنسی کے حالات میں جب لاک ڈاؤن کی وجہ سے لوگوں کی امداد کرنے کا مرحلہ درپیش ہے تو حکومت کے پاس بے نظیر اِنکم سپورٹ پروگرام کی صورت میں بہترین پلیٹ فارم اور ڈیٹا موجود ہونے کے باوجود حکومت نے لوگوں کی امداد میں نہ صرف غیر معمولی تاخیر کر دی ہے بلکہ اب اگر امداد دینا شروع بھی کی ہے تو اپنی نالائقی کی وجہ سے بڑے بڑے ہجوم اکٹھے کر کے کرونا کے خلاف جنگ کو ناقابل تلافی نقصان پہنچا دیا ہے جس کا خمیازہ قوم کو آنے والے دنوں میں بھگتنا پڑ سکتا ہے.
کورونا کی وباء سے فقط باہمی عالمی تعاون سے ہی نجات حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔ بلاول بھٹو
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے زور دیا ہے کہ کورونا کی وبا سے فقط باہمی عالمی تعاون سے ہی نجات حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔ کورونا کی صورتحال پر اسکائی نیوز کو انٹرویو دیتے ہوئے پی پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ امیر اور وسائل رکھنے والے ممالک کو غریب اور کم وسائل والے ملکوں کی مدد کرنا ہوگی، کیونکہ غریب ممالک کے پاس اتنے وسائل نہیں ہیں کہ وہ تن تنہا کورونا کا مقابلہ کر سکیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ وسائل والے ممالک اور عالمی طاقتوں کو ٹیسٹنگ کٹس اور صحت کی سہولیات کی دنیا بھر میں منصفانہ تقسیم کرنا ہوگی۔ بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا کہنا تھا کہ عالمی طاقتوں کو اب اپنا رویہ بدلنا ہوگا۔ آج بھی ایران پر پابندیاں ہیں جہاں لوگ کورونا کی وجہ سے مر رہے ہیں، جبکہ بھارت تاحال مقبوضہ کشمیر کو بند کئے بیٹھا ہے۔ انہوں نے نشاندھی کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ مقبوضہ کشمیر میں 250 دن سے لاک ڈاؤن ہے اور لوگوں کے پاس کوئی سہولت نہیں۔
پاکستان میں کرونا وائرس کی صورتحال پر گفتگو کرتے ہوئے پی پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ پاکستان بھی اس وباء سے بری طرح متاثر ہوا ہے۔ ہمارا نظام صحت اتنا وسیع نہیں کہ اس وبا کا مقابلہ کر سکے۔ ہم لاک ڈاؤن اور سماجی دوری کے ذریعے ہی اس وبا سے بچ سکتے ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ اٹلی اور برطانیہ جیسے ملکوں کا نظام صحت بھی کورونا کے پھیلاؤ کی وجہ بیٹھ گیا ہے، جبکہ ہمارے پاس تو اٹلی اور برطانیہ کے مقابلے میں صحت کا نظام بہت کمزور ہے اور اگر پاکستان میں اس وباء کا پھیلاؤ بڑھا تو ہمارا نظام صحت بیٹھ جائے گا۔ بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ پاکستان کی اپوزیشن نے وفاقی حکومت کو مشترکہ کاوشوں کی پیشکش کی ہے، لیکن افسوس ہے کہ وفاقی حکومت کورونا سے نمٹنے کیلئے سست رفتاری سے کام کر رہی ہے اور صوبے اپنے اپنے طور پر کام کر رہے ہیں۔ وفاقی حکومت سے صوبوں کو بہت کم مدد مل رہی ہے۔
NAB, Ehtesab Commission used for political engineering: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
However, he said, the NAB, has crossed the line by putting its hand on the independent media. He said that the government never tolerates criticism. Speaking in Geo News programme ‘Aapas ki Baat’, he said the government’s performance is not improving that is why it pressurises those who criticize it. He said the arrest of Editor-in-Chief of Jang/Geo Media Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is an unprecedented step taken by NAB.
Bilawal said the role of the NAB is very disappointing and he believes that it will be used for political engineering and pressuring the critics in future as well. He said harassing the media owners in old cases is condemnable. He demanded the government to release Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman immediately. He said democracy cannot function properly without independent media.
The PPP leader said if Prime Minister Imran Khan has big heart, then he must not confront with the political opponents and independent media. He said putting opposition into jails depicts a fascist and dictatorial mindset.
About the FIA report on sugar and flour crisis, Bilawal said that in normal conditions, the opposition would seek resignations from those in power, but in the current circumstances, the whole focus should be made on combating the challenge of coronavirus. He said he would not repeat what the PTI used to do when it was in opposition i.e. seeking resignations every now and then even over fake reports. He said the government should fully focus on coronavirus handling as people’s health comes first than other considerations.
Bilawal Bhutto calls for unity to fight #coronavirus pandemic
Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday briefed Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over the provincial efforts to tackle coronavirus, ARY NEWS reported.
During a telephonic conversation, the chief minister briefed that the province was trying its best to improve testing capacity while efforts were also underway to provide relief to the public affected from coronavirus lockdown.
Speaking on the occasion, Bilawal Bhutto while lauding Murad Ali Shah said that the Sindh government has undertaken exemplary measures to prevent outbreak of the virus.
“The public confidence on the state has boosted owing to the provincial measures,” he said adding that currently the province leads in available health infrastructure as compared to other parts of the country.
“You have given a face to a people’s government,” Bilawal said to Shah.
He said that the foremost priority of the government should be to save public lives. We all have to unite to fight this pandemic, Bilawal said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan Saturday reached 4,788, according to the National Command and Operation Centre’s latest statistics.
As many as 190 new cases of the COVID-19 were reported across the country during last 24 hours. So far 762 patients have recovered from the deadly virus, whereas the death toll has surged to 71.
Highest 25 deaths were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22 in Sindh, 19 in Punjab, three in GB and one was reported in Islamabad and Balochistan.
According to the breakup of the cases province-wise Punjab tops the list with 2,336 cases, while Sindh has recorded 1,214 coronavirus cases so far.
656 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 220 in Balochistan, 113 in Islamabad, 215 in Gilgit Baltistan and 34 cases were reported in Azad Kashmir.
Overall 48 per cent of the cases are said to be of local transmission in the country while rest are of the nationals coming from abroad.
The health authorities have overall conducted 57,836 tests including 2,457 tests during the last 24 hours.