write an article expressing your concern over the injustice and the physical assault expressed by the frontline workers ,mainly the doctores, nurses & other health workers. Also suggest ways and measures that can be adapted to
minimize to.
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Answer:
Reports of infections, illness, attacks and deaths among frontline health workers are mounting worldwide. As the war against COVID-19 rages on, WHO is calling on governments and health care leaders to protect the health workers who protect us all – particularly in emerging COVID-19 hotspots.
A new WHO Health Worker Safety Charter released on World Patient Safety Day 2020 is “dedicated to the millions of health workers fighting COVID-19 across the globe who put themselves and their families at risk to treat patients and contain the spread of this disease”.
Limited resources and health worker lives on the edge
Laila Collier is a hospital worker in Cape Town, South Africa who has treated many COVID-19 patients experiencing respiratory failure. At the beginning of the outbreak, she was told: “There’s no emergency in a pandemic.”
This advice, often given to medical teams, was that Laila should never compromise her own safety to address a momentary crisis; the best way for her to help the most patients was to look after her own health in the long-term. “This was the mantra we all hoped to implement in our practice,” she said.
But with grueling hours and limited supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), health workers like Laila have been forced to make tough choices. While working a 24-hour hospital shift, Laila found herself in a “chaotic” situation where the hospital was short-staffed, and she simultaneously cared for two patients – one with COVID-19 and one without. When her COVID-19 patient’s lungs began rapidly deteriorating, Laila grabbed any PPE she could find and ran to intubate the patient. When her goggles fogged up, Leila had to remove them to properly see the patient’s airway.
The procedure of intubation generates aerosols that can infect health workers. Laila successfully stabilized the patient, but not without placing herself at risk of acquiring COVID-19.
“When panic sets in and you are watching someone die in front you, and you know that you can potentially reverse the problem, you will take all chances and risks, often to your own detriment,” says Laila.
Health workers are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 burden
Laila’s situation is far from unique. The vulnerability of health workers has been one of the harshest lessons of the pandemic so far. Although not representative, data from many countries across all WHO regions indicate that COVID-19 infections among health workers are far greater than those in the general population. While health workers represent less than 3% of the population in the large majority of countries and less than 2% in almost all low- and middle-income countries, around 14% of COVID-19 cases reported to WHO are among health workers. In some countries health workers account for as many as 35% of all COVID-19 infections.
The stress of the pandemic – exacerbated by a demanding work environment and fears for personal and family safety – has also taken a significant psychological toll. A recent review of health care professionals found one in four frontline health workers reported symptoms of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 outbreak. What’s more, health workers face rising levels of discrimination, verbal harassment and physical violence in their daily lives.
Patient safety depends on health worker safety
Health worker safety and patient safety are inseparable, and the world's ability to successfully fight the coronavirus pandemic depends on our ability to safeguard health workers. That is why the global health community is dedicating World Patient Safety Day on 17 September this year to an often-overlooked aspect of patient care – the safety of health workers.
WHO is calling on Member States and relevant stakeholders to support the new ‘Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety Charter’ and commit to concrete actions that ensure safer conditions for health workers and patients – such as developing relevant policies, labor laws and supplying sufficient PPE. Ultimately, patients can only be safe if health workers are safe.
WHO has also outlined specific World Patient Safety Day 2020-2021 Goals for health facilities to invest in, measure, and improve health worker safety over the course of the next year. The goals address personal protective practices, workplace injuries stress and burnout – among other key safety issues.
COVID-19 has exposed serious gaps in the systems intended to protect both health workers and patients from harm. Now that governments and health care leaders know more, they must do more. As worldwide coronavirus cases reach new highs, we must invest and protect our health workers, like Laila, who risk their own lives in the line of duty.
- Charter: Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety
- World Patient Safety Day Goals 2020-21
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