Instead of strengthening our health sector, we are weakening it
Once again, our health care professionals are paying the price for poorly thought-out, unscientific policy decisions. At the end of the day, these decisions affect not only our doctors are nurses, but the rest of us as well, because after all, they cannot properly take care of us if we do not take care of them.
It used to be that health care professionals, after seven days of working, spent 14 days in quarantine at a hotel designated by the government. A new government circular says they are now to work for 15 days, after which they are to be isolated in home quarantine for 15 days, or accommodated in a hotel designated by the government.
It is no surprise that his decision has not only dealt a blow to the morale of health workers, but has been criticized as unscientific. Indeed, at a time when our infection rate is sky-high and there seems to be no end in sight for dangers of coronavirus, instead of strengthening our health sector, we are weakening it. For example, if health workers are to be kept in government dormitories, they will need to be using common restrooms. After long hours working in close proximity to the virus, putting them in such an arrangement belies logic.
The ministry concerned should heed the advice of experts in the medical field, rather than make decisions based on convenience or follow a bureaucratic path. Coronavirus has brought the world to its knees and fighting it will not be easy. To do so, we must make some tough decisions, and in those decisions, we must listen to the experts who work in the field.
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