How did Pakistan cope with COVID-19 challenge?


Coronavirus was a pandemic, a disease that affected almost the whole world. It was a very hard time for all the countries to cope up with the situation. Since it was highly contagious and thousands of people were catching the infection per day. For countries like Pakistan, where the healthcare system is not well funded and stable, it was such a crucial time to look after patients properly. It was literally like fighting a war with few weapons and low budget.


However, with all the shortcomings Pakistan managed to cope up with the situation.

Higher authorities took action on time for the prevention of coronavirus spread. The academic institutions were closed early. Moreover, the lockdown was observed in the whole country. The federal and provincial government played its role to stop the spread of coronavirus. They formed quarantine centres in different cities of Pakistan.


Coronavirus crisis was hard for all the healthcare systems, even for countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. So, it was more difficult for a country like Pakistan, that has fragile healthcare system to manage this crisis because the healthcare facilities are not up to the mark here. It is because of some reasons.


The first reason for the fragile healthcare system in Pakistan is that the government spends only 0.7% of its GDP on health. It is on the list of the countries that spend the lowest budget on health.


The second reason for it is that there are fewer healthcare providers as compared to the need of the country. The number of pharmacists, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals do not meet the required demand. Due to which, it became difficult to cope with the situation.


The third reason for the unstable healthcare system is poor infrastructure in rural areas. People living there have to go to urban-based tertiary hospitals for getting better healthcare services. There are not well-established laboratories, radiology imaging centres and blood transfusion centres in enough quantity in the whole country that can meet the needs of the patients.


The fourth reason for poor healthcare services in Pakistan is the lack of attention towards public health. The committees do not have enough funds to spend on disease spread and prevention. Lack of finances is one of the major cause that makes public health system poor and fragile.


The fifth reason is that Pakistan was unable to eradicate polio in the 2000s. Due to which, nowadays it takes almost half of the time of district workforce on polio eradication. Therefore, they are unable to concentrate on other activities like prevention of disease spread.


The final reason for the unstable healthcare system in Pakistan is poor governance and regulations. The higher authorities do not pay the required attention to the healthcare sector. Poor infrastructures, improper plans, low funding and lack of attention makes the health care system of Pakistan weak, unstable and fragile.


Despite all these circumstances, Pakistan is trying to manage efficiently with COVID-19. The death rate here due to COVID-19 is low as compared to other countries, that shows people are receiving healthcare services.


InstaCare Contribution in COVID-19


During the coronavirus crisis, InstaCare has delivered over 10000 consultations. It helped many existing doctors to provide services to their patients through telemedicine. We not only helped in stabilizing the healthcare system but helped in stabilizing the medical businesses as well all over the country. InstaCare was working day and night for the laboratory services. We conducted more than 40,000 testing's of COVID-19 and helped in the management of immense load on laboratory services. Through our platform, people were able to consult with the doctors from the comfort of their home, that served in stopping the spread of the virus and made it easier for people to cope.


Conclusion


Coping with coronavirus crisis was a nightmare for Pakistan- a country which does not have a well-established healthcare system. However, with the day and night hard efforts of healthcare providers and higher authorities, it managed to cope with the situation. If you want to consult with a healthcare provider online, contact InstaCare.