Pak doctors warn congregational prayers in mosques may cause 'significant mayhem'

Pakistan'stopdoctorshavewarnedof"significantmayhem"and"fataloutcomes"ifmosquescontinuetoremainopenandurgedthegovernmenttoreviewitsdecisiontoallowcongregationalprayersduringthemonthofRamzanamidthedeadlycoronavirusoutbreak.

ThePakistangovernmentlastweeksuccumbedtopressurefromthehardlineclericsandallowedconditionalcongregationalprayersinmosquesduringRamzan,endangeringthedrivetocurbthespreadofcoronavirusthathaskilledmorethan175,000peopleworldwide.

InPakistan,thecoronavirushaskilledmorethan200peopleandinfectedover10,000others.

Inalettertothegovernmentaswellasreligiousleader,thedoctorsaskedtolimittheprayersto3-5persons-apracticealreadygoingontocheckthecoronavirusoutbreak.

IndusHospitalCEODrAbdulBariKhanconfirmedthattheletterhadbeensenttoexpressfearsandreservationsofthemedicalcommunity.

Thedoctorswrotethatmostlyagedpeopleof50yearsandabovegotomosquesandreferredtovideosthatsurfacedinthepast48hourshadshownthatmorethan80percentofthepeopleattendingprayersinmosquesweremostlyintheir60sand70s,Dawnonlinereported.

"Clearlythishasresultedintheviolationofthefirstandforemostprincipleofpreventingthespreadofthevirusinthemostvulnerablegroup"ofelderlypeople,statedtheletter,whichhasbeenendorsedbythePakistanIslamicMedicalAssociation(PIMA).

"WithRamzanapproaching,wewouldunderstandablyexpecthighernumberofnamazis(worshippers)attendingtheprayers.Moreover,longTaraweehprayersandwaitingtimeswillleadtoprolongedgatherings.Itisallbutcertainthatthiswillcausesignificantmayhem..."itadded.

HospitalsinKarachihavestartedexperiencinga"significantinfluxofcoronapositivepatients",thelettersaid."Weanticipatethesenumbersandresultantmortalitytoexpandexponentiallyinthenextfewdays."
"Thiswillundeniablyresultinsignificantpressureonouralreadycompromisedhealthsystem."