Importance of General public level awareness and what Government and media can do to combat CORONA Menace.
I have been saying since the very beginning of crisis that this menace can be fought with one weapon and that is awareness. Although there are other many factors but in Pakistan's peculiar conditions General Public awareness is the need of the hour.
This is what I proposed twice.
“I propose a 30/40 minutes advertisement free programme to be telecast on every channel --- yes every channel, no exception, no channel be allowed to telecast anything else --- and all channels be made legally bound to telecast that program at least once a day and advertise it intensively. This program may include,
1, what is CORVID-19,
2, what should be the measure to stay safe,
3, what measure government is taking, and
4, what is the importance of understanding these measures, follow their instruction and if Government is making any change in their safety measures be included in this program at later stage.”
I would like to add that this programme be translated in all regional languages and regional channels be made bound to telecast this programme at least once a day until we are out of this crisis. If there is any legal issue, a presidential ordinance can be invoked to make it a law for all TV Channels.
Time has proved that fear is not the key, only awareness and following on safety instruction is the key.
I would like to remind that so far 4 countries have showed determination and ultimately, they are on way to control this menace. These countries are China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. There is one thing in common. DISCIPLINE. It is not that there all people understood the gravity of situation or understood the situation completely, what they did, they follow instructions whole heartedly, knowing that this is in their favour. These Government might have to apply these steps strictly at some place but overall, it wasn’t possible a complete co-ordination between government and people. Most of the western countries and USA failed to deal with COVID-19 was their inability to understand the gravity of the issue at first stage and later indiscipline on the part of their people.
Unfortunately, we don’t see any coordination between General Public and Government at large and no coordination among various organs of state. One of the reasons is that this problem is unprecedented, other problems are corruption in all segments of society and third one lack of funds. In my view a general awareness at mass level can be helpful to minimise the damage and would help government tackling this issue with its limited resources.
I have been saying since the very beginning of crisis that this menace can be fought with one weapon and that is awareness. Although there are other many factors but in Pakistan's peculiar conditions General Public awareness is the need of the hour.
This is what I proposed twice.
“I propose a 30/40 minutes advertisement free programme to be telecast on every channel --- yes every channel, no exception, no channel be allowed to telecast anything else --- and all channels be made legally bound to telecast that program at least once a day and advertise it intensively. This program may include,
1, what is CORVID-19,
2, what should be the measure to stay safe,
3, what measure government is taking, and
4, what is the importance of understanding these measures, follow their instruction and if Government is making any change in their safety measures be included in this program at later stage.”
I would like to add that this programme be translated in all regional languages and regional channels be made bound to telecast this programme at least once a day until we are out of this crisis. If there is any legal issue, a presidential ordinance can be invoked to make it a law for all TV Channels.
Time has proved that fear is not the key, only awareness and following on safety instruction is the key.
I would like to remind that so far 4 countries have showed determination and ultimately, they are on way to control this menace. These countries are China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. There is one thing in common. DISCIPLINE. It is not that there all people understood the gravity of situation or understood the situation completely, what they did, they follow instructions whole heartedly, knowing that this is in their favour. These Government might have to apply these steps strictly at some place but overall, it wasn’t possible a complete co-ordination between government and people. Most of the western countries and USA failed to deal with COVID-19 was their inability to understand the gravity of the issue at first stage and later indiscipline on the part of their people.
Unfortunately, we don’t see any coordination between General Public and Government at large and no coordination among various organs of state. One of the reasons is that this problem is unprecedented, other problems are corruption in all segments of society and third one lack of funds. In my view a general awareness at mass level can be helpful to minimise the damage and would help government tackling this issue with its limited resources.
