Coronavirus: caregivers on hunger strike in Pakistan over lack of equipment

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In the east of the country, dozens of doctors are on hunger strike. They denounce the lack of protective equipment against the coronavirus and urge the authorities to support them. The peak of the epidemic is expected in mid-May. In recent weeks, the country has accelerated with 12,657 people infected and 265 dead to date.

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With our correspondent in Islamabad,Sonia Ghezali

Some say they have been on strike for ten days. With this movement, Pakistani healthcare workers in Punjab want to denounce the conditions in which they work  and endanger their lives to rescue the patients of covid-19.

"  We don't have protective equipment against the coronavirus!"  "This is what the thirty caregivers on hunger strike are trying to make heard in Lahore, the capital of the country's most populous province. The members of a health union are at the origin of the mobilization which would gather nearly 200 people who take turns to assist the hunger strikers.

Caregivers briefly detained

"  Health personnel are alone on the front line!"  Protesters also chanted in early April in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, a disaster-stricken province. Several of the caregivers were arrested a few hours before being released. They also asked for protective equipment. Local authorities say the equipment has been distributed to hospitals.

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• Coronavirus
• Pakistan
• Health and Medicine

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