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| SHORT COMMUNICATION |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 8
| Issue : 2 | Page : 118-119 |
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Reconfiguring the Health Sector Response to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic
Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava1, Prateek Saurabh Shrivastava2
1 Member of the Medical Education Unit and Institute Research Council, Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth – Deemed to be University, Ammapettai, Nellikuppam, Chengalpet District, Tamil Nadu, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth – Deemed to be University, Ammapettai, Nellikuppam, Chengalpet District, Tamil Nadu, India
| Date of Submission | 24-Jun-2020 |
| Date of Decision | 24-Jun-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 30-Nov-2020 |
| Date of Web Publication | 12-Jan-2021 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava
Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth (SBV) – Deemed to be University, Tiruporur - Guduvancherry Main Road, Ammapettai, Nellikuppam, Chengalpet District - 603 108, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/JIHS.JIHS_19_20
The ongoing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to overwhelm the health care delivery system of the affected nations. It was indeed challenging that the daily caseload in these nations was so high that the whole health system was outstretched and still hundreds of people kept losing their lives to the infection. In-fact, the nations were not left with any other option than to impose a strict lockdown with a primary intention to give some time for the health system to prepare themselves. In order to ensure that the disease is effectively contained, it is important to reconfigure the entire response of the health sector to the disease so that we can prevent the overwhelming of the health care system. In conclusion, the effective containment of the COVID-19 pandemic will essentially require the complete reconfiguration of the response of the health sector and capacity building activities. In-fact, all the nations should prepare themselves for the worst scenario and be ready to deal with the sudden upsurge in the number of cases
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Lockdown, World Health Organization
How to cite this article:
Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS. Reconfiguring the Health Sector Response to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic. J Integr Health Sci 2020;8:118-9 |
How to cite this URL:
Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS. Reconfiguring the Health Sector Response to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic. J Integr Health Sci [serial online] 2020 [cited 2023 Jun 5];8:118-9. Available from: https://www.jihs.in/text.asp?2020/8/2/118/306714 |
| Introduction | |  |
The ongoing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to overwhelm the health-care delivery system of the affected nations and has affected the quality of life of millions of people across the world. In fact, the global estimates suggest that a total of 8,993,659 cases and 469,587 deaths have been reported.[1] The disease has a case fatality rate of 5.2% and has been reported across 216 nations and areas around the world.[1]
| Cause of concerns | | |
The status of the disease and its pattern in the American region and the European region has made the health authorities across the world to understand that not even the most developed nations were enough prepared to respond to a single infectious disease.[1],[2] It was indeed challenging that the daily caseload of the disease in these nations was so high that the whole health system was outstretched and still hundreds of people kept losing their lives to the infection. It has been observed that all the nations, which have reported a large number of cases, had done the same in a very small duration and that has been the real challenge for the public health authorities.[2],[3]
| Rationale for imposing lockdown | | |
In fact, the nations were not left with any other option than to impose a strict lockdown with a primary intention to give some time for the health system to prepare themselves and also minimize the risk of transmission.[3] However, though imposing a lockdown slowed the spread of the virus, it cannot eliminate the disease, and for that to happen, the health authorities should aim to test as many as number of suspect cases, isolate the confirmed cases and offer treatment, perform contact tracing and quarantining all of them.[3],[4]
| Areas to be strengthened | | |
In order to ensure that all these happen, the national leaders should continue to build their capacity and implement all those measures which can neutralize or delay the onset of community-based transmission. Moreover, we have to significantly improve the supply of personal protective equipment (to interrupt the chain of transmission) and even increase the number of ventilators (to aid the patients who require respiratory support).[2],[3],[4]
| Reconfiguring health sector | | |
In order to ensure that the disease is effectively contained, it is important to reconfigure the entire response of the health sector to the disease so that we can prevent the overwhelming of the health-care system.[2] Recently, the region has developed two tools to help the health authorities to estimate the demands of the workforce and supply in hospital settings, and to aid the stakeholders in proper planning to improve their level of preparedness and response plan.[5] It is important that all the nations should do contingency planning and prepare themselves for a wide-scale community transmission in their settings.[2] This essentially means that the whole health sector should redefine their response to the COVID-19 infection without compromising the delivery of essential and emergency health services.[2],[4]
| Conclusion | | |
In conclusion, the effective containment of the COVID-19 pandemic will essentially require the complete reconfiguration of the response of the health sector and capacity building activities. In fact, all the nations should prepare themselves for the worst scenario and be ready to deal with the sudden upsurge in the number of cases.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | | |
| 1. | |
| 2. | |
| 3. | Iacobucci G. Covid-19: UK lockdown is “crucial” to saving lives, say doctors and scientists. BMJ 2020;368:m1204.  |
| 4. | World Health Organization. 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV): Strategic preparedness and response plan. Geneva: WHO press; 2020. p. 1-20. |
| 5. | |
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