Limits of charity.

Byline: Ammar Khalid

THE coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged many a developed country thus far, is fast exposing the frailties in Pakistan's threadbare healthcare apparatus as well as our broader economy. Amidst this crisis, however, many have taken heart in how it is bringing out the nation's altruistic side, and how many more are selflessly contributing to the host of charity drives being organised by myriad individuals, businesses and nonprofits.

After all, Pakistan ranks high amongst nations in terms of generosity. According to a recent piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Pakistanis contribute as much as a per cent of GDP annually towards charity. This is comparable to many developed countries. The corresponding figure for the UK is 1.3pc and 1.2pc for Canada.

But while it is indeed heartening to see such generosity during this latest predicament and such giving is crucial for the sustenance of the millions already facing abject poverty, we have to realise that private philanthropy has its limits - particularly during a pandemic.

Many of the citizen-led charity drives springing up right now are uncoordinated. Their effectiveness is hampered by information asymmetry whereby multiple efforts could target the same areas. Citizen-led donations often have a large urban bias. But remember that the rural areas are also reeling from the economic fallout of the present situation, even if the reported numbers of infected people in rural areas are lower.

Only the government can tackle a crisis of such scope.

These impromptu charity drives are also fairly limited in scope. A bag of ration can only last a few weeks. Meanwhile, our government departments, notwithstanding their general ineptitude, still maintain the widest infrastructure to respond to such crises to not only reach the most marginalised communities but to do so in a coordinated and sustainable manner. Only the government can tackle a crisis of such scope - for instance, the Edhi Foundation's annual budget of roughly Rs1.5 billion pales in comparison to the government's latent Ehsaas Relief Programme which aims to dole out Rs144bn to 12 million recipients over the coming four months. This is not to belittle the efforts of the many citizens risking their lives to help others, but rather to demonstrate that government-led social transfers can be more effective than anything organised by civil society, especially amidst a crisis like the current one.

So it is no surprise...