That doctors continue to test positive for the coronavirus is proof enough, if any were still needed, that those at the front lines of this war are not being provided with necessary protective equipment. It turns out that more than a dozen doctors at Lahore General Hospital have tested positive in the latest such incident. This problem should have been taken care of long before any talk of easing the lockdown even began. That’s because this was the supposed to the most essential pre requisite to opening up the economy, which will not make much sense if the healthcare system is compromised. Now doctors will be more discouraged than ever to step up their own fight, knowing that just by doing their job they are risking their own lives and also the lives of all their loved ones. And that is only because the government is not doing its job properly. Since most if not all countries have overcome this problem, and we have not, this news should jolt the government into action. They army would never send its soldiers to the front lines of any battle without necessary arms and ammunition because it would simply be a self-defeating exercise. The only thing to be accomplished would be assured destruction of one’s own force. Regrettably, that is precisely what will happen every time doctors are made to treat Covid-19 patients without the necessary protective equipment. Only this case is even worse because unlike the soldier infected doctors will go home to give their families the same disease and the prospect of an agonising death. It seems unfortunate episodes of doctors coming out on the streets and even staging hunger strikes did not make the government realise the gravity of the situation. Surely everybody has noticed that of late the percentage rise in daily infections and deaths has gone up rather sharply in Pakistan. One would have hoped that doctors and hospitals were already bolstered in the best way possible by now. The government must put everything else aside till this matter is settled. The whole thing would unravel if hospitals start running out of doctors just because the entire official machinery is unable to erect a supply chain that can ensure the required supply of all necessary protective equipment; just like everywhere else in the world. All things considered, the government would do well to remember the old adage that if you are unable to make things any better, for whatever reason, make sure you do not at least make things worse. *