A quick perusal of news reports regarding healthcare, or lack of it, amid the spread of COVID-19, clearly suggest that the common person’s struggle for basic healthcare, is a ‘pandemic’ challenge.
‘Don’t fall sick,’ however improbable, is the disconcerting inference that can be drawn from these reports.
Arguments for ‘not falling sick’ can be analyzed from two angles.
By default, the first is to stay oneself safe from the current pandemic. This is an impossible task for the virus does not discriminate and one cannot stay in complete isolation infinitely. Strict adherence to precautionary measures recommended by health and other authorities by every individual is the only ‘near’ full-proof safeguard. To say that the ‘consequences’ of falling sick are petrifying would be an understatement.
There are several instances where the unfortunate victims of the virus have to undergo extreme ‘ostracisation’ from the members of society at large. There are racial, religious as well as plain discrimination and no one is immune. When even frontline health workers are subjected to such treatment, there are no escape routes for commoners.
For starters, personal identities, locations or even social and professional interactions of a patient are widely circulated, often with choicest of uncomplimentary words.
“The stigma we face is a very unpleasant experience. You feel naked, you feel vulnerable in front of society. People you meet and greet everyday suddenly treat you like aliens,” a COVID-19 patient in Kohima, was quoted as saying in The Morung Express last week.
The COVID-19 scare in the state has not spared even the healthcare service providers, goes another report by this newspaper, noting that patients have had to move from pillar to post to access these services, only to be refused admission, citing COVID-19 related risks.
Unfortunately, some of them, COVID-19 patient or otherwise, expired without even rudimentary access healthcare. There might be other unreported cases.
For the hospitals, apart from the unavailability of doctors, there are genuine concerns regarding the lack of testing facilities as well as the fear of putting other patients at risk. Admissions without tests become liabilities as many instances in the recent past have had attested.
For common ailments, one can safely assert that there can be certain ‘time factor’ between the onset of the illness and access to healthcare; however, for a medical emergency, lack of immediate care is a matter of life and death - any delay could result in bigger consequences. Other primary cares and health concerns too are understandably challenged during the ongoing pandemic.
Ergo, it is best not to fall sick.
Is this conclusion unnecessarily alarmist? Evidently, however, the primary objective is to drive home the point that access to other healthcare services should not be neglected during the ongoing fight against COVID-19. On the other end, it is a reminder to those naysayers as well as the general public that it is prudent to follow established safety protocols, amidst competing postulations.
This is also a nudge to the public health authority that access to basic health care cannot be denied and if available, must be widely publicised regularly through various mediums for general awareness. While the state government has arranged facilities for the Out Patient Department (OPD) and other medical services in most districts at designated locations, many are not aware of such initiatives. The question of access to care during medical emergency, however, remains. The Nagaland Government’s move on July 31 to allow private hospitals to use Rapid Antibody Test as Point of Care (PoC) for COVID-19 testing is a welcome step. However, other measures should be implemented to ensure that the poorer section is left out of the healthcare system, particularly during the current pandemic.
It is not right and even unfair for the people to expect the Government to have all the answers to all issues, however, for a ‘basic’ query such as the access to good healthcare; it needs to have a clear-cut answer.
