May 23, 2020
PRIMARY HEALTHCARE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19.
Its been exactly seventy-five days since our offices were closed down and we embraced remote working. The pandemic on its own is still ravaging the world. Approximately 1,029 cases have been reported as pe yesterday while a further undisclosed amount of people are still in quarantine facilities.Covid-19 disrupted everything, education businesses and the normal day to day.the virus is treated with a lot of top-notch care as in different laboratories across the world search for a vaccine that right be ready next year. The question I pose for today is what about the normal illness. Ranging from malaria to pneumonia doctors in the country face different ailments each day. Some more severe than others but all require special attention. With all the focus on the covid-19, what happens to patients suffering from the common illness
Primary healthcare,” the WHO explained, “ensures people receive comprehensive care — ranging from promotion and prevention to treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care — as close as feasible to people’s everyday environment.” This is to be the case but the covid-19 virus has had a strain on hospitals. The focal point is on the patients who are suffering from the virus hence no time is channelled on the primary healthcare.
In the midst of the emergency response, the world cannot afford to ignore people’s broader health needs — including vaccinations; reproductive, maternal and child health care; HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria services; mental health, and treatment for chronic diseases. Doing so will cause a deadly ripple effect, leaving millions more vulnerable to preventable illness and death.
Expectant mothers have been hard hit. Most of them were found on the losing side without the proper care for not only themselves but their unborn babies. Most mothers cannot access the prenatal services they need for fear of contracting the virus in the said hospitals. At the same time, most hospital staff is hands-on with patients suffering from Coronavirus. This situation leaves women susceptible to consequential health conditions. Palliative care has been affected as well. Volunteers have been called to take care of patients instead of doctors as most of them are tending to patients suffering from covid-19, the danger this has is that most volunteers are not equipped with the proper knowledge and skill needed for this practice, again leaving the said patients in a critical state.
The covid-19 pandemic will go down in history as having hard the worst effect on the world. It has proved that as a universe we can do better for ourselves. The millions of lives that have been lost in this short period is proof enough that health care is still a critical issue that needs to be addressed worldwide. Countries like Italy, Spain and even the U.S.A proved to not only have crevices but cracks in their systems. The pandemic should be a lesson enough for countries and donors on the need to prioritize funds and resources on primary healthcare as a means of taking care of their people.
