Federal government needs to help all the provinces including Gilgit-Baltistan in fight against Covid-19

Islamabad, 17 April 2020: Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in a twitter message said that government neither announced any package for the doctors and other paramedical staff who are fighting at the front line of the war against pandemic nor it has introduced any package for the daily wages workers who have been affected the most with lockdown due to COVID-19.
Chairman Bilawal said that a package for the construction sector has been announced which shows the federal government’s interest in profit over human life. The country may face the consequences of the wrong priorities of our government in days and weeks to come. He said this is the time to deal with health issues and to look after the needy.
A video link meeting of leaders from Gilgit Baltistan was also held headed by the Chairman PPP. The GB leaders briefed the Chairman PPP about the situation amid COVID-19 pandemic and told the chairman that even the Chinese government provided relief package to GB but the federal government did nothing. They said that the government changed the BISP with Ehsas and gathered people at different points resulting in the spread of COVID-19. The doctors in GB are working without PPEs and Dr Osama Riaz lost his life due to the negligence of the federal government.
Chairman Bilawal thanked the Chinese government and said that the federal government must also give relief package to GB. He said that the GB government should spend the money on development on health like Sindh government because the most important is to save the lives of the people. Chairman PPP expressed his concern for conducting only 15 tests for COVID-19 per day in GB. He asked the federal government to increase the number of tests in GB immediately. It is also the inability of the federal government that doctors and paramedical staff have not been provided PPEs. He asked party officeholders to make people aware of this threat of COVID-19. He said that the federal government will have to help the provinces including GB in the fight against COVID-19.

The leaders who attended the meeting via video link included Mehdi Shah, Amjad Hussain, Engineer Ismail, Jamil Ahmed, Sadia Danish, Imran Nadeem, Mohammad Moosa, Bashir Ahmed and Iqbal Rassol.