Covid-19: Doctors hold protest march against ‘autocratic’ govt. in Gilgit Baltistan
Jun 16, 2020
Hunza (Gilgit Baltistan), June 16. Senior physicians, resident doctors and their supporting staff in Hunza district of the illegally occupied Gilgit Baltistan took to streets against the authorities they call ‘autocratic’. They demonstrated against the callous and arrogant step of the administrators in which they issued transfer orders for those who complained about ill-equipped and contaminated medical compounds amid Covid-19 outbreak in the region. Doctors had earlier demanded Personal Protective Equipments for all medical staff as one of them had contracted the virus owing to continuous exposure. Doctors also said that such arbitrary decisions of Islamabad-backed local administrators were damaging the developments they had made in containing the virus spread. There are more than 1,200 Coronavirus cases in Gilgit Baltistan and there are high chances that authorities are underplaying the actual figures. Outside media cannot travel here and there is no credible monitoring body. The crisis has further been aggravated by a limited number of tests being done per day. The authorities in the region have completely disregarded the WHO guidelines and have been diagnosing only those who are severely symptomatic and need urgent medical attention.
