Pandemic and Challenges to Healthcare System

The COVID-19 pandemic has massively disrupted and brought out the shortcoming of health care systems (HCSs) around the world in both the public and private sectors. It has brought to the forefront, the loopholes and significant gaps that pointed blankly overlooked by us all till we were made to pay the price for our ignorance and obliviousness. It has made us aware of the vitality and urgency of bringing about a round of change to the defunct healthcare system in terms of not only monetary investment but also investment in human capital. Frontline workers like doctors & health workers as well as new solutions that can help progress in the field of medicine would turn out to straightforwardly influence the technological advancement and preparedness of the world as a whole for future crises.

Owing to Globalization, the impact of an event travels across today’s world with the speed of light. The relevance of national borders has now dwindled, people and determinants of health flow freely in every direction. As it was already witnessed in 2020, it’s no longer possible to address healthcare in one particular country without taking a global perspective- infrastructure & services.

Even though it is not an unknown fact that Healthcare services form a strong foundation for the urban & rural areas and provide a means to transcend their economic background. It can also directly impact one another on both global and national level. This statement was always backed by the EU Commission & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development who highlighted the healthcare model of Nordic countries like Norway and Sweden were considered to be one of the best in the world. However, when it came to controlling the spread of the virus these along with many other countries failed to control the spread of Covid 19 that sent a shock wave throughout the world. At a global level, when we found ourselves fighting the unknown enemy of the new decade, COVID-19, it unveiled the truth about the effectiveness and deficiency of the healthcare system which has been reflected upon below.

Concerns of Healthcare in the International Sphere

The COVID-19 pandemic has majorly shed light on how important social determinants of health and health disparities impact the lives and livelihoods of individuals as well as nations at large. It has laid bare the deficiencies in nations’ ability to react sufficiently to the arising health, financial, and social needs of its societies during a health emergency. Whether it was the delayed response given by WHO or the issue of the healthcare sector being understaffed due to the lack of investment and human capital, no state or International organisation was prepared for this terrible turn of events. However, lack of investment and manpower in the health care sector is one very strong point that has made it quite apparent that immediate need for addressing the consequences of neglected actions is required.

India Fights the Obsolete Health Care System

At the national level, in the experiences of healthcare workers the Government & NGOs mostly tend to invest in the infrastructure or medical research equipment but leave out the one significant factor that most of us turn a blind eye to human capital. It is the trained professionals who are required to run these medical centres and research labs that are alarmingly short at hand. One such instance is that it did seem to have tried everything in its power to help curb the spread of the virus but was not very successful at reaching its goal. The lack of financial as well as human capital inputs and investments have left the sector in a tight spot and unearthed deep-rooted concerns. Not only were we unprepared but also left the main heroes of this pandemic, the healthcare workers to fend for themselves.

This came into the limelight when healthcare workers in Bihar went on a strike in July 2020, when Covid-19 Cases were at their peak in India. It is safe to say that the majority of the issues that have come to the forefront target the level of facilities, financial security (salaries) and most of all the hygiene & sanitation measures that were supposed to be given the topmost priority. Although people in the healthcare sector put up a brave front, it is safe to say that even they felt extremely frustrated & anxious about how the world was changing around them. Despite it all, they put on an armour of steel to help eradicate this crisis as soon as possible.

Concerns of the Health Care Workers

Experts say increased investment in the health force, along with ensuring adequate safety measures is an urgent need of the hour. As the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases has started to take a toll on the medical infrastructure, the striking numbers of deaths among health care workers have also been a concern among health advocates. There seems to be a strike of underlying anger and frustration brewing in the medical sector’s personnel’s minds as doctors are being harassed left, right, and centre along with the overload of work that they have been dealing with for the past year seems to be adding fuel to the fire. “Doctors across the country are dissatisfied with the way they’re being treated,” said RV Asokan, general secretary of the Indian Medical Association.

In the Monsoon Parliament Session of 2020, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a central minister stated in the Upper House of the Parliament, that 64 doctors and 91 other health care workers had sought relief under a government insurance scheme, which provides relief in case of death of health care providers. However, he was unable to provide the number of total deaths. With the alarmingly high death toll of healthcare workers, we can’t help but think to ourselves that if healthcare sector personnel are unable to receive proper sanitation and hygiene measures then how and what is the true state of the hospitals and healthcare centres that they are working in? It is no secret that people in the Medical Sector saw this coming from miles away as the underlying issues of the outdated medical infrastructure and ‘general ward’ norms were time and again being highlighted by the healthcare professions and advocates for more than a decade now but were blatantly overlooked.

Searching for solutions

Experts are now stressing the need for both short-term and long-term solutions for example, as far as the pandemic is concerned NITI Aayog has provided guidelines on issues & solutions for health problems, basic hygiene & sanitation standards that are required to be maintained and monitored at all times.

Existing, as well as the staff that is still under training, should be trained to do the on the ground job as well as leverage the technological advancement and digitalization wherever it can possibly be. Paramedical faculty in medical colleges can be asked to volunteer for COVID-19 duty and put through properly structured training in order to work with situations that are at play at the moment. In many parts of India, health department officials have suggested appointing post-graduate students who are awaiting their final results to hospitals serving COVID-19 patients.

Despite the current financial situations at the national and international front, it is imperative that financial investments be made towards the health care sector. At present, despite promises to spend 2.5% of GDP on public health, the country is spending only 1.28 %.

For technological and medical advancement it is highly important to have enough human resources in the field wherein the frontline workers, particularly the health care workers should be given their dues in terms of financial incentives and health security as well as other benefits that would attract more manpower towards the sector of health care that is at present, in its worst moment of crisis.

About The Author

Mehak Kulaar is an International Relations and Public Policy enthusiast. She aspires to draw out the systemic challenges that curtail economic and political progress of developing countries.