Shahbaz Gill accuses Sindh govt of politicising coronavirus situation through doctors

Former spokesperson of the Punjab chief minister Dr Shahbaz Gill on Thursday accused the Sindh government of pushing its narrative through provincial healthcare workers. 

The accusation came after a group of doctors made a public plea for enforcement of stricter lockdown measures to reduce coronavirus cases on Wednesday.

Gill claimed that the doctors had held their press conference on the behest of the PPP, which is the ruling party in Sindh.

Related: 'We are running out of beds': Doctors plead to govt to enforce stricter coronavirus lockdown

He said that the recent decisions regarding the nationwide coronavirus strategy, which were criticised by the doctors, were taken during a session of the National Command and Operations Centre where representatives of the doctors’ fraternity had also been present.

“It is unfortunate that after the Sindh government got tired of doing politics over the coronavirus issue, it pushed doctors from Sindh forward,” he said on Twitter.

In the same tweet, the former Punjab spokesperson requested the ‘few doctors’ from the province to not ‘politicise’ the issue.

Murtaza Wahab reacts to Gill’s statement

Sindh government Spokesperson Murtaza Wahab angrily reacted to Gill’s statement, saying that the world is praising the efforts of the Sindh government except for ‘PTI’s incompetent’ members.

Wahab said that the current situation warrants a unified response to the pandemic rather than divisive politics.

“Learn to differentiate between those fighting the coronavirus and those begging,” he lashed out.

Doctors describe ground-realities, warn of reprecussions 

On Wednesday, a group of Karachi's leading doctors, belonging to the Pakistan Medical Association, had described the on-the-ground realities faced by frontline workers in the fight against the coronavirus.

One of the PMA members, Dr Saeed Niaz, said that there was an impression that the coronavirus is not as serious an issue in our country as in other countries. "The reason for [lower than expected numbers] is our testing capacity, which is an issue that will remain," he said.

"If we hadn't placed the country under a lockdown, then the situation would have been different. Similarly, if we don't act now, two weeks down the line, the situation will be very different."

"The [isolation] wards are all already 80% saturated. And in Pakistan's case, there are more patients who are under 60 years of age," he had warned.