Editor's Note: The Chattanooga Free Press editorial page has offered the two main candidates in the Republican primary for Tennessee's U.S. Senate seat an opportunity to write two issues-oriented commentaries before the August election. This one is by Dr. Manny Sethi.
As the coronavirus crisis worsens, and more Americans lose their lives daily, we are reminded of how this all began. A lesson we should never forget. In Wuhan, China, when an ophthalmologist reported to his medical school friends that he was seeing patients present with a potential new virus, Communist government thugs came in the middle of the night to "question" him. They covered up the virus for weeks, allowing it to spread unchecked. Their cover-up allowed the virus to spread and kill thousands worldwide.
Recently, China has reported a significant decrease in the rate of new infections; however, they are kicking journalists out of their country, and we have zero ability to verify if this decrease is fact or fiction. Knowing how the Communist Chinese operate, we can only assume it is continued propaganda from a dishonest actor.
This Communist government, which spies on its citizens, imprisons people for their religion, and publishes propaganda in its state-controlled newspapers, is the same government that is controlling our access to dozens of life-saving drugs. The United States relies on China to produce such common drugs like acetaminophen (Tylenol), and it makes 90% of important antibiotics Americans use on a regular basis.
Besides drugs, China also makes a tremendous amount of our country's medical supplies. If you are curious about whether to wear a mask to protect yourself from the virus, the answer is yes. The reason the United States government earlier discouraged their use by the general public is there is a shortage. The bulk of these masks are made in China.
These are problems. We cannot allow the Communist Chinese to have a chokehold on our country's safety and well-being. This is a matter of our national security. The Chinese government doesn't appear to care about the lives of its own citizens. Should we expect them to care about the lives and safety of Americans? Keep this in mind: If it is ever to their advantage to cut off our drug supply chain, they have the power to do so.
We need a return to American-made medications. We don't allow our fighter jets to be made by a foreign adversary, and for good reason. Over the next five years, we must shift to a system where no federal dollars, through Medicare or any other program, are going to drugs made in China. We must also give incentives to companies to start manufacturing medical supplies here at home.
When all of this is said and done, the Chinese government must answer for this catastrophe. Thousands of individuals in China are dead. Thousands more around the world are too. The Chinese people do not deserve to live under a lying Communist government that views people as pawns to be spied on, not individuals who are given the rights of life and liberty by their Creator. The rest of the world should not be punished for the Chinese government's preference to cover up problems rather than govern and openly address issues.
What America needs to hear right now is a version of what I tell my trauma patients the morning after surgery - when we look back on this moment, it could be the time when we stood up and found our purpose once again, in this case as a nation. This is the United States of America! Our country's health cannot be held hostage by a Communist regime in China. We can conquer this virus, and we can also bring our pharmaceutical and medical supply production back to this country. We must also remember China did this to us, and we must never allow that to happen again.
Dr. Manny Sethi, an orthopedic trauma surgeon, is the founder of Healthy Tennessee, a nonprofit public health organization designed to promote preventive health care across the state. He and his wife, Maya, live in Nashville with their two children.