Doctor Wouter Arrazola De Onata reflects on the possibility that regular care may have to be discontinued again due to the corona pandemic. ‘Many colleagues fear a horror scenario.’
Last week I heard colleagues Steven Callens, Sofie Merckx and Marc Noppen warn that regular care in hospitals and GPs was in danger of having to be discontinued again. For people in the sector it goes without saying that this is a horror scenario. Suddenly, however, it occurred to me that many people probably cannot estimate the seriousness of this. People should not be able to do that at all, it is not a reproach of stupidity or ignorance. It is up to us to explain that much better.
If mainstream care is stopped due to corona, the vulnerable will again be hit hardest.
In order to keep our society healthy and to treat our loved ones who are sick, we normally have a huge ‘army’ and a multitude of daily activities and interventions. This just to keep our society running at a relatively healthy level, our defense against too many health problems and suffering. That is what we call regular care.
The ‘army’ that is needed for this consists of an extensive network of aid workers. About 16,000 primary care physicians together conduct 137,000 medical consultations for their patients every day. That is more than 4 million patient contacts in a month. Let those numbers sink in for a moment.
The second line of defense has approximately 18,000 specialist doctors spread over 200 hospital locations with more than 52,000 beds and nearly 70,000 hard-working nurses. The number of hospital admissions per day is around 17,000. Seventeen thousand in one day. In a month there are more than half a million. Almost 20% of this is in people under 20 years and 15% are chemo or immune courses for cancer. Let those numbers sink in.
And now try to imagine what it would be like if all of this was stopped. That this whole defense is no longer there because suddenly all hands are needed for the covid-19 care. That those more than one hundred thousand daily examinations at the GP can no longer continue. That those tens of thousands of recordings per day are suddenly no longer possible. That the regularity of the care that keeps our society going, is suddenly no longer there. And just imagine how awful that would be for all of your friends, colleagues, classmates and family members who need medical care. Everyone knows someone like that.
Do we have a better understanding of why health care workers and nurses and doctors have been speaking to us so loudly in recent days and weeks? Because they fear this horror scenario will unfold. The prospect of no longer being able to provide care to your patients who need it, causes a lot of anxiety, stress, psychological pressure, demotivation, depression and many of us have already (for a while) gone under. The prospect of the tsunami caused damage and suffering that delayed medical care.
People who are less fortunate already need medical care more often. Non-contagious diseases such as diabetes, obesity, lung and heart problems are more common. And that is precisely the risk factors for severe covid-19. The epidemic thus hits the most vulnerable extra hard, further increasing inequality, social exclusion and discrimination. And yes, many of the measures also do that.
And now the time has come. Had there been some smart people who had warned us about this in a timely manner and clearly?
Last week I heard colleagues Steven Callens, Sofie Merckx and Marc Noppen warn that regular care in hospitals and GPs was in danger of having to be discontinued again. For people in the sector it goes without saying that this is a horror scenario. Suddenly, however, it occurred to me that many people probably cannot estimate the seriousness of this. People should not be able to do that at all, it is not a reproach of stupidity or ignorance. It is up to us to explain that much better. In order to keep our society healthy and to treat our loved ones who are sick, we normally have a huge ‘army’ and a multitude of daily activities and interventions. This just to keep our society running at a relatively healthy level, our defense against too many health problems and suffering. That is what we call regular care. The ‘army’ that is needed for this consists of an extensive network of aid workers. About 16,000 primary care physicians together conduct 137,000 medical consultations for their patients every day. That is more than 4 million patient contacts in a month. Let those numbers sink in for a moment. The second line of defense has approximately 18,000 specialist doctors spread over 200 hospital locations with more than 52,000 beds and nearly 70,000 hard-working nurses. The number of hospital admissions per day is around 17,000. Seventeen thousand in one day. In a month there are more than half a million. Almost 20% of this is in people under 20 years and 15% are chemo or immune courses for cancer. Let those numbers sink in. And now try to imagine what it would be like if all of this was stopped. That this whole defense is no longer there because suddenly all hands are needed for the covid-19 care. That those more than one hundred thousand daily examinations at the GP can no longer continue. That those tens of thousands of shots per day are suddenly no longer possible. That the regularity of the care that keeps our society going, is suddenly no longer there. And just imagine how awful that would be for all of your friends, colleagues, classmates and family members who need medical care. Everyone knows someone like that. Do we understand better why health care workers and nurses and doctors have been speaking to us so loudly in recent days and weeks? Because they fear this horror scenario will unfold. The prospect of no longer being able to provide care to your patients who need it, causes a lot of anxiety, stress, psychological pressure, demotivation, depression and many of us have already (for a while) gone under. The prospect of the tsunami caused damage and suffering that delayed medical care. People who are less fortunate already need medical care more often. Non-contagious diseases such as diabetes, obesity, lung and heart problems are more common. And that is precisely the risk factors for severe covid-19. The epidemic thus hits the most vulnerable extra hard, further increasing inequality, social exclusion and discrimination. And yes, many of the measures also do that. And now the time has come. Had there been some smart people who had warned us about this in a timely manner and clearly?
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