Current burden on healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries: recommendations for emergency care of COVID-19
- PDF / 396,198 Bytes
- 3 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 96 Downloads / 161 Views
COMMENTARY
Current burden on healthcare systems in low‑ and middle‑income countries: recommendations for emergency care of COVID‑19 Husnain Hamid1 · Zubia Abid1 · Attiya Amir1 · Touseef Ur Rehman1 · Waqas Akram1 · Tooba Mehboob1 Published online: 9 August 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread dramatically, thereby increasing the risk of becoming infected. The mortality and morbidity rates of COVID-19 continue to climb each day, putting healthcare systems and healthcare professionals/providers (HCPs) at risk. Currently, the healthcare systems of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are unable to cope with these extremely difficult circumstances [1]. Maintaining the safety of HCPs is a key component of every well-operated healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge workload burden for HCPs, which may lead to exhaustion and mental distress because of factors such as sleep disturbance, increased and lengthy working hours, debilitating fatigue, and the fear of becoming infected and exposing their family members to this potentially lethal infection [2]. HCPs, currently the most treasured national resource in the fight against COVID-19, should be well-protected against this infection [3]. This commentary highlights the COVID-19 burden and current status of healthcare systems and HCPs in LMICs and proposes possible preventive measures to care for HCPs.
COVID‑19‑related morbidity/mortality in healthcare providers HCPs are at greater risk of becoming infected than other individuals because of their direct professional interactions with patients with COVID-19. Significant COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality rates have been observed in * Husnain Hamid [email protected] 1
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Central Punjab, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
Vol:.(1234567890)
HCPs. According to 8 May 2020 data, a scoping review stated that, of 3,912,156 patients with COVID-19, 152,888 (3.9%) were HCPs [4]. In addition, 1413 (0.5%) of 270,426 COVID-19-related deaths were in HCPs. These data suggest that, for every 100 HCPs infected, one died [4].
Current healthcare facilities in low‑ and middle‑income countries It is generally stated that individuals in LMICs are deprived of sufficient levels of healthcare and cannot access medical facilities in a timely manner [5]. Naz et al. [6] found that, on average, physicians at district hospitals in many LMICs spend 54 s per patient, and rural dispensaries take 37 s to dispense medicine to a patient. Competent physicians are encouraged to emphasize their duties in private clinics, whereas government-employed physicians have dual responsibilities in public hospitals and private clinics [6]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is a global lack of ≈ 4.3 million HCPs, primarily in South Asia and Africa. These regions also have the highest burden of illness, exacerbated by a smaller healthcare workforce [7]. Generally, the need to reinforce healthcare services, to improve
Data Loading...
