As the name suggests, the “novel” coronavirus has altered how the world operates, in novel ways and magnitude. From having an intense impact on the global economy to changing the course of everything deemed “normal” up until now. The onset of the pandemic warned us of fundamental functional changes in day-to-day life but little did we know that the entire global healthcare system as a whole would be rendered so subpar. This article will try to shed light on the weaker aspects of the whole healthcare grid and the combined efforts being taken to address them.
Throughout the globe, our collective healthcare systems were not designed to tackle this catastrophe; an unforeseen, far-reaching health crisis that called for a pressing need to administer mobilization of resources. It is quite obvious, therefore, that expending time and resources on debating whether or not our healthcare system succeeded in doing so is largely futile a matter. However, it is crucial to note that the healthcare nexus, especially of the developed countries, has been taking on an altogether different path over the last couple of years.
Let us try to look at some of these opposed efforts in light of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Concentrate efforts on non-communicable, chronic diseases including diabetes and heart disease
The pandemic has brought to notice that the global healthcare system has been driving its efforts and resources towards focusing more on chronic and non-communicable diseases rather than being prepared well in advance for the onslaught of a new threat.
- Increase efficiency by moving care from hospitals to outpatient facilities
In the past few years, outpatient care has been prioritized over hospital care. In recent times, if facilities and fortifications to the hospital care segment would have been on the cards, the overall effectiveness in grappling with the virus would have increased considerably.
- Increase the relative focus and spend on Specialty Care by incentivizing innovation for smaller unmet needs and vulnerable populations
This has tampered with mass-handling a crisis as uncertain and large-scale as the Covid-19 pandemic. If the relative focus would have been on mobilizing the pandemic-hit population, we would be sailing in a much stable, if not safer boat now.
- Curtail spending on gross prevention
In OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development) countries, less than 3% of healthcare spending was spent on prevention in 2015. The majority of these countries spent between 2% and 4% of their GDP, which has remained steady over time. Furthermore, roughly half of preventative spending was spent on healthy condition monitoring programs like check-ups and dental examinations, 25% on health promotion, and both immunization and screening programs accounted for the remaining ten percent. While various immunization and screening activities have been found to be cost-effective (and in some cases even cost-saving), there is less agreement on the value of general (including dental) check-ups.
To summarize the concern, it is indispensable for every healthcare system to acknowledge the loopholes it has been operating in and actively come up with measures to ensure we as a collective network are at least prepared for another catastrophe, moving forward.
