Post-pandemic resurgence of healthcare industry

The Covid-19 pandemic hit the healthcare industry pretty strongly as healthcare facilities were forced to close down almost all non-emergency services and concentrate only on Covid care.

Also, patients refused to visit hospitals for fear of getting infected. As a Covid hospital, GIMSR performed superlatively to provide quality care to the patients admitted to this hospital.

However, almost all other services were severely hit due to the stigma attached to this. Now that we have closed Covid care officially, our priority is to get back our patients. Outpatient services are seeing very few patients and so, by default, in-patients are very few too. So the first expectation is to see a larger footfall in the hospital.

Secondly, we need to provide proper and quick treatment to those neglected patients who come to us. Many patients have ignored signs of malignancy or other serious diseases and are in a worse condition than they were at the start of the pandemic. These patients need to be given priority care.

Thirdly, some of the infected and survived Covid patients develop post-Covid respiratory and other problems. We need to provide special care to them in the form of special clinics, which have multi-specialty inputs. We are all aware that this may not be the end of the pandemic, even though we are hoping it will come.

Hence the establishment of critical care units with a trained workforce and a roadmap to meet the kind of disaster preparedness should be in place. Training every healthcare worker to attend to the varied needs of patients is probably the most critical aspect of preparedness. It is not enough to have qualified doctors and nurses in intensive care units. Every doctor and nurse in the hospital should have a working knowledge of managing a ventilator and working in a critical care setup, if need arises. This was perhaps the most important take-home message the senior leadership learnt during the second wave.

Facilities also need to watch their infection-control practices, and keep them updated constantly. Air handling units, CSSDs, and simple physical practices like hand washing should all be prioritized, and medical facilities should spare no expense in continuing these practices.

The need to keep the healthcare personnel safe from infection and their mental wellbeing should continue to be given priority.

Of course, healthcare providers need to better care about their own safety and keep physically and mentally fit. All eligible persons should take updated immuniza­tion schedules, including protective doses of the Covid vaccine.

Health facilities should also pay more attention to the least focused areas of hospital management, like biomedical waste management. These may be seen very much down in priority, but in a pandemic situation, it is most important. Hence, using this time to spruce up these areas will be time spent well.

Lastly, all health facilities should be in a position to use information technology and digital platforms more efficiently.

A sound hospital information system, coupled with a robust laboratory information system, which includes radiological images, has become a minimum standard to be expected. Facilities should switch over to a paperless office as far as possible.

I believe these few issues will be what I would focus on, besides hoping and praying these last two years will never be experienced again.