The Women Democratic Front (WDF) on Tuesday raised concerns over the rising healthcare worker infection rate and the lack of provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the healthcare workers, especially those working on the frontlines of the corona pandemic. Dozens of healthcare workers have been infected over the past few months despite this just being the onset of the pandemic in the country.
“The healthcare workers especially the large number of female nursing staff must be provided with PPE against occupational hazard since they return to their families and cannot isolate themselves due to the work burden at home. This is sheer neglect and incompetence on part of the federal government”, said President WDF Ismat Shahjahan said in a meeting held to discuss the increasing precarity and vulnerability of the working class during the on-going viral pandemic. According to the press release, it was said that the hospitals must demand from the government to protect all the workers working in corona facilities including the janitorial staff who are invisibilised in the larger discussion of provision of the PPE.
It added that in the fight against the pandemic, those who are fighting at the front-lines are the most vulnerable to getting infected from the virus, protecting the lives of the front-liners must be our utmost priority further, state must ensure the provision of the equipment and increase the domestic manufacturing of the equipment while ensuring workers safety.
Shahjahan said that the federal government has borrowed from IFIs, making advanced procurement under these loans and yet we see the provincial governments crying for PPEs and lifesaving equipment.
