The Impact of COVID-19 on the Healthcare Industry

In late 2019, the world was introduced to the novel coronavirus and in February 2020, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses officially named it SARS-CoV-2—the disease that it caused COVID-19. According to the Guardian the total coronavirus death toll reached 2 million in January 2021.

It was in early January when Chinese officials were able to recognize the strain and put a label on it. A report in South China Morning Post states that the earliest case dates back to 17 November 2019. The virus spread from district to district, city to city, and then eventually from country to country. From lockdowns to precautionary measures, everything was brought into action to stop the way of this lethal virus. An article in BBC describes specific ways countries continue to manage the situation.

The healthcare sector fights back.

The global healthcare sector was on the frontline of this war, and its members were hailed as saviors. The healthcare department has exhausted itself by fighting with the pandemic for over a year now. They also started to feel expendable, according to an article on BBC. Around 300,000 healthcare workers have been infected, as mentioned in Forbes, and more than 2,500 have lost their lives whilst saving others. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that resources, such as personnel protective equipment have been difficult to come by due to supply chain shortages.

As the death toll continues to rise, the healthcare sector of multiple countries has been massively affected. The United Nations states that developing countries are finding it challenging to respond to this situation. Many developing countries were unprepared to deal with such a crisis. They continue to face immense shortages and fragmented economies.

Lack of resources

Public sector hospitals and care centers in many countries have found it difficult to cope with the situation. There was a very evident need for isolation centers, as mentioned in The Washington Post, and many governments around the world constructed their quarantine centers.

It’s important to understand that supply chains have been disrupted drastically because the patients affected by COVID are not in the hundreds or thousands but in the millions. The demand for well-trained medical professionals and doctors has dramatically increased.

A vaccine had to be developed after undergoing several testing procedures and experiments, which, of course, require capital that has been drained by the need for medical supplies to an appreciable extent. In spite of such obstacles, leading pharmaceutical companies have developed vaccines that have been more or less successful in combating the virus. Even small blunders can lead to major problems, as one country had to dispose of thousands of vaccines as they didn’t come with the right syringes.

The lack of resources that the healthcare sector is facing can only be overcome if governments try to harness the majority of their reserves.

Repercussions faced by healthcare workers

The healthcare industry’s workers have been working around the clock during this pressing time. They have put their lives on the line by performing their duties in this time of need. Many of these workers have contracted the life-threatening coronavirus and experienced what it was like to be on the other side of things.

Healthcare workers who became patients themselves and even those that did not continue to live with the experience of being on the frontline during this global pandemic. Healthcare workers have experienced severe mental health repercussions, including PTSD.

Final words

The enormity of the challenge that the healthcare sector still faces even now that there are vaccines available will continue to be a problem in the coming years. Yet, the global healthcare sector continues to fight. It is integral that the multitude of obstructions encountered by the global healthcare sector managed efficiently and urgently so that it is can continue to do its work.

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