Thought of writing this piece of article few days back at the initial days of lockdown in Nepal, however I couldn't set this as my utmost priority in those days.....
COVID 19 has impacted the lives of every individual, family, society and nation of the world affecting around 210 countries and millions of morbidity with mortalities also... The concern is worldwide as the disease seems to be easily contagious with no effective treatment till date and the promise of vaccines needs time to be answered....
Well from the perspective of developing world like Nepal and health being a less priority for the government with quality health not reachable and accessible to majority of the Nepalese, COVID 19 is a challenging issue...... And luckily till todays date, no excess numbers has been recorded with zero mortality... 101 being the total detected cases till the present time.....
Several thought provoking questions and thoughts are going on...
Is the government doing to its fullest to mitigate the disease?? The simple answer is NO......
Are hospitals prepared to mitigate?? The answer is NO for private hospitals and PARTIAL YES for designated COVID hospitals by the government...... Partial because the laboratory setup, the needed PPEs availability and resources to mitigate if the cases rise aren't well-equipped....
Are health workers confident to mitigate COVID? The answer is NO because of NO proper training, no adequate preparedness, ignorance, anxiety etc.
Are general public prepared or have learnt the COVID scenario?? The answer is PARTIAL YES.... The lockdown effect seems to have given some message to the general public but the increased days of lockdown (TODAY IS DAY 42) has made the public impatient... And there are some publics who still don't fear the COVID consequences.......
Well.... If everyone thinks about his/her responsibilities and duties... from the government to every household then there wouldn't have been problems... But the scenario is just the opposite everyone is clear about what other should or shouldn't do but doesn't think what one has to do.....
The challenges are still more and all have to face in the days to come by...
Now as a doctor working in a medical college, I have carried out my duties of taking rounds of the admitted patients of the wards and ICUs.... We as a center isn't prepared for COVID cases.. May be the cases are so few in number that the responsibility is given to specified government hospitals only BUT the management should have had made enough preparedness and have the necessary supplies so as to mitigate COVID in the future if needed...... Going through dedicated online materials of COVID with the experiences of frontline doctors and nurses working in looking after the COVID patients in and outside Nepal has given much needed confidence to me.... But as an individual or as staffs working in a hospital, mitigating COVID isn't enough, it needs a planned strategy for COVID preparedness... Well the known proverb goes-- "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best".. But the handling by most of the institutions isn't hopeful.... Everyone tries to act as if they aren't the one to be affected by COVID and this is the sad part.....
Now what has COVID helped to bring positive measures... Well as a disease pandemic it has done more worse than good... But surfing through the internet brings good news of nature growing beautiful day by day.. it has also brought into focus the health system.... At least in Nepal in view of COVID, ICUs are being setup in some hospitals.... need of manpower is bring sought for..... mobilization of health resources is given the topmost priority..... People are realizing the need of quality level of health care at every level.... in the rural area or the city...... Hopefully for Nepal's Health System, this stage will be a step in foundation of health co-ordination and investment for quality and not quantity of health care.....
Lastly, every situation has some positives within it.. So writing this article is also a foundation step for me to continue my blogging habit which I had forgotten quite a while and remembered in these lockdown days... Read some novels in these lockdown days some motivating ones like "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" and I am trying to digest at least 1 percent of the book....... This lockdown period is a gift for those who didn't gave time for near ones.. A time to reflect upon the passed days.. A period of self thinking and realization.... Hoping for a bright future indeed.... Will come with another blog article soon... This time soon.....
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| Image from https://www.diagnosticimaging.com/coronavirus/disinfecting-imaging-equipment-during-covid19 outbreak |
Well from the perspective of developing world like Nepal and health being a less priority for the government with quality health not reachable and accessible to majority of the Nepalese, COVID 19 is a challenging issue...... And luckily till todays date, no excess numbers has been recorded with zero mortality... 101 being the total detected cases till the present time.....
Several thought provoking questions and thoughts are going on...
Is the government doing to its fullest to mitigate the disease?? The simple answer is NO......
Are hospitals prepared to mitigate?? The answer is NO for private hospitals and PARTIAL YES for designated COVID hospitals by the government...... Partial because the laboratory setup, the needed PPEs availability and resources to mitigate if the cases rise aren't well-equipped....
Are health workers confident to mitigate COVID? The answer is NO because of NO proper training, no adequate preparedness, ignorance, anxiety etc.
Are general public prepared or have learnt the COVID scenario?? The answer is PARTIAL YES.... The lockdown effect seems to have given some message to the general public but the increased days of lockdown (TODAY IS DAY 42) has made the public impatient... And there are some publics who still don't fear the COVID consequences.......
Well.... If everyone thinks about his/her responsibilities and duties... from the government to every household then there wouldn't have been problems... But the scenario is just the opposite everyone is clear about what other should or shouldn't do but doesn't think what one has to do.....
The challenges are still more and all have to face in the days to come by...
Now as a doctor working in a medical college, I have carried out my duties of taking rounds of the admitted patients of the wards and ICUs.... We as a center isn't prepared for COVID cases.. May be the cases are so few in number that the responsibility is given to specified government hospitals only BUT the management should have had made enough preparedness and have the necessary supplies so as to mitigate COVID in the future if needed...... Going through dedicated online materials of COVID with the experiences of frontline doctors and nurses working in looking after the COVID patients in and outside Nepal has given much needed confidence to me.... But as an individual or as staffs working in a hospital, mitigating COVID isn't enough, it needs a planned strategy for COVID preparedness... Well the known proverb goes-- "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best".. But the handling by most of the institutions isn't hopeful.... Everyone tries to act as if they aren't the one to be affected by COVID and this is the sad part.....
Now what has COVID helped to bring positive measures... Well as a disease pandemic it has done more worse than good... But surfing through the internet brings good news of nature growing beautiful day by day.. it has also brought into focus the health system.... At least in Nepal in view of COVID, ICUs are being setup in some hospitals.... need of manpower is bring sought for..... mobilization of health resources is given the topmost priority..... People are realizing the need of quality level of health care at every level.... in the rural area or the city...... Hopefully for Nepal's Health System, this stage will be a step in foundation of health co-ordination and investment for quality and not quantity of health care.....
Lastly, every situation has some positives within it.. So writing this article is also a foundation step for me to continue my blogging habit which I had forgotten quite a while and remembered in these lockdown days... Read some novels in these lockdown days some motivating ones like "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" and I am trying to digest at least 1 percent of the book....... This lockdown period is a gift for those who didn't gave time for near ones.. A time to reflect upon the passed days.. A period of self thinking and realization.... Hoping for a bright future indeed.... Will come with another blog article soon... This time soon.....
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