THE ASSOCIATED Press reports that doctors on the frontline of China’s new coronavirus epidemic are facing a daunting task: treat an ever-growing number of infected patients and risk getting infected themselves due to a drastic shortage of masks and other protective equipment.
Tired and understaffed, medical workers have had to deal with thousands of new cases per week in Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the outbreak that first emerged late last year.
Now imagine the scenario if the outbreak of COVID-19 (that’s the official World Health Organization name for the novel coronavirus wreaking havoc in China and elsewhere) is in the Philippines.
Who will take care of us from COVID-19? Lots of our healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, etc.) go abroad for better paying jobs.
Health workers are the heart and soul of the health system. We should take care of them. A conscious effort to invest in the health workforce who provide for the services, especially at the primary level, is crucial for an effective, efficient, and equitable health service delivery.
The Philippines is amid a workforce crisis. As early as 2014, using available government data, the Coalition for Primary Care estimated that the country’s health workforce to population ratio stood at 2.3:10,000, which was 10 times less than the 23:10,000 doctors, nurses, midwives to population ratio established by the World Health Organization needed to deliver only essential maternal and child health services.
The inadequacy of frontline health workers results to inequity. Data from Philippine Statistics Authority show that six out of 10 Filipinos who die, die without ever seeing a health professional. This is especially true in geographically isolated and disadvantage areas.
Public health demands technical competency and adequate number of workforce at the service delivery, policy-setting, and program management levels. Achieving “universal health care” takes a workforce. There is a need to constantly strengthen the health sector’s organizational capacity and front-line workforce so that it can deliver the much-needed services.
Remember this: a country can never progress with a frail citizenry.
