KARACHI:Reducing non-productive spending, eliminating foreign debt, equating health and education budgets to defense budget, and raising awareness about the Corona epidemic are the only ways to go out of the current crisis.
Addressing a pre-budget seminar on “Covid-19 crisis, condition of workers and government responses” organized by National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan, Dr. Sher Shah, Leader of Pakistan Medical Association said that the country is currently desperately needed trained doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. The government is talking about buying 2,000 ventilators, but it does not have the expertise to operate these ventilators, which could result in a significant loss of money.
Expressing views, he said that the mutual infighting between the federal and provincial governments had made it impossible to formulate an integrated strategy to combat Covid-19. As a result, the corona virus is spreading rapidly. The people are not taking this dangerous epidemic seriously because of the irresponsible attitude of the government and its irrational decisions. If the government still does not plan according to the advice of medical experts, it will have dire consequences.
Dr. Sher Shah strongly criticized the Sindh government for wasting huge sums of money by using the Expo Center instead of converting a large trauma center near Napa and a large hospital in Taiser Town into a quarantine center. The Punjab government has also foolishly squandered public money by setting up a quarantine center at the Rs 90 million Expo Center instead of using the 1,200-bed government hospital building in Lahore.
He said that health and education sectors should be given top priority in the forthcoming budget. It’s important that well before construction of huge buildings of hospital and purchasing of advance equipment required to have experts to operate it. There is an urgent need for more than 100,000 doctors, at least 200,000 nurses, 200,000 paramedical staff and 100,000 midwives. He urged the government to come up with a comprehensive plan to spread the message of scientific awareness about the epidemic among the people.
Nasir Mansoor, Secretary-General, National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF), while reviewing the negative impact of coronavirus on the lives of workers, said that this monster has swallowed the lives of hundreds of people in Pakistan, victimizing thousands of them daily, millions of people have been economically killed and millions have been forced to starve.
He said that the situation today is that despite all the claims of the government, more than six million workers have been laid off. A conservative estimate is that this number will reach 17 million, which is about thirty percent of the total workforce.
All of government announcements and especial law on Covid-19 which protect employment and wage during lock down period, employers are refusing to pay workers during lockouts and laying off. While labour laws and Labor department, being labor law implementation body, is became fully employers’ protector. Despite all the complaints and protests, not getting justice from anywhere will have dire consequences as workers’ anger and desperation increasing many folds. Under the guise of SOPs, wages are not being paid to workers above 50 years of age.
He added that it was a shame that the management of Denim Clothing, which manufactures garments for international brands, especially H and M, had fired on unarmed workers protesting against non-payment of bonuses and police official in collusion factory management arrested the workers and sent to jail on terrorism charges. It’s very unfortunate that the Sindh government, and especially the Ministry of Labor, remained a silent spectator.
The labor leader said that today the economic situation is alarmingly bad, exports which were 21 billion USD are declining rapidly. More than three million migrants, who sent 21 billion USD in remittances each year, are at high risk of unemployment. The decline in foreign earning from both sources is exacerbating the economic crisis.
He said that the volume of foreign debt has reached one hundred and ten billion dollars, the need to pay the loan installments of seven hundred and five billion dollars annually. In this economic crisis, it is impossible to pay such a hefty amount. So, the deepen crisis requires radical treatment.
It was demanded in the seminar that all countries in the region should significantly reduce non-productive spending, including defense spending; the government should demand cancellation of foreign loans in partnership with developing countries; in the new budget, the amount allocated for health, education and public welfare should be equal to the defense expenditure; the minimum wage of workers should be thirty thousand; pension should be equal to the minimum wage; all citizens must be registered under the Universal Social Security Scheme; and killer of Baloch women should arrested and death squad should be banned.
At the beginning of the seminar, a minute of silence was observed in memory of the American black George Field and the Baloch woman. The seminar condemned the killing of unarmed black George Field by a racist police officer and expressed solidarity with the ongoing protest movement in the United States.
The seminar also condemned the killing of an innocent woman by a government-backed death squad and expressed its heartfelt condolences to the innocent girl Burmish Baloch who was injured in the attack and decided to take part in the movement against the killer.