PML-N President and Opposition leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his concern over the dearth of medical oxygen in the country, reported 24 News HD TV Channel on Monday.

The PML-N leader suggested that all parties should devise an emergency contingency plan to avoid an India-like oxygen crisis situation. He said emphasis should be put on adopting an effective strategy to fight coronavirus variants and their lethal effects on the population.

Shehbaz touted his previous government’s policies regarding the elimination of the dengue virus, adding that government could study and benefit from his dengue control model to tackle Covid 19 pandemic.

He said the government should accelerate the vaccine rollout and it could seek the private sector’s help in this regard.

He cautioned that any reluctant and lacklustre policy vis-à-vis Covid elimination efforts would be a huge mistake. He said the only effective method to eradicate this pandemic is the inoculation of more and more people.

He said it was criminal negligence on the part of the government that it failed to accumulate enough vaccine which became the main cause of the rapid spread of Covid 19 in the country. He said the government should devise step-by-step administrative measures.

He said the government should keep in view the ground realities and statistics while devising a covid policy and it should include all four provincial governments, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan governments in consultation.

Shehbaz appealed to the people to observe the SOPs in order to stem this pandemic from their amidst. All public representatives must apprise people of the urgency of adopting SOPs.

He demanded of the government to make local bodies more effective and seek their help in this regard.