Introduction
As expected back in December 2019, COVID-19 has become a global health disaster that changed the face of healthcare on a global level. While the countries are struggling with new waves and varieties of the virus it has been observed that all these effects are going to have new long term impacts that will reshape or redesign the system of how healthcare is being delivered and utilized across the world.
Healthcare Infrastructure
Unprecedented stress was put on hospitals and other sorts of health-related facilities; thus, it became clear that many of them were lack of enough resources to accommodate increased numbers of severely sick individuals. In response, newatisfactory critical care capacity was rapidly created in many countries by converting other hospital wards and facilities into what can be referred to as makeshift ICUs. There were also quickly built the field hospitals to increase the existing capacity.
Ad hoc structures addressed an essential prerequisite, but many sources agree with the proposition that permanent increases in the number of available beds and other facilities will be needed for future pandemic management. France, Germany, the UK and the US among others have declared their long-term infrastructure spending to relevant sectors on hospital bed increases, expansion of structures, stockpiling of essential products, and the overall enhancement of universal manufacturing capability in drugs and medical equipment.
Some of these proposed capacity expansions will revolutionize health care systems in these countries for the next few decades. But lower income country might not be able to finance the similar strengthen of health system. This could make global inequalities worse unless further investments have been made to address the relative deficiencies across the world in health-care facilities.
Telemedicine
Tele-mental health services were established to reduce the risks associated with contacting these patients in person when pandemic lockdowns and mobility restrictions fueled exponential growth in telemedicine services across the globe. Telemedicine had started being adopted way before the COVID-19 crisis and the pandemic has heightened awareness of its potential across a range of sectors, including primary care, chronic illness, mental health, critical/ICU care.
Telemedicine has become more common during the lockdown as many countries have eased the rules in this sector. There are even studies showing the patients’ satisfaction with the telemedicine services and their desire to keep on using it after the pandemic is over. According to one McKinesy study, as much as $250 billion of US heath care services are potentially digital, with telehealth being one of the largest proportions.
A few patient/doctor pairs will likely return to wishing for the older paradigm of healthcare that does not rely on telemedicine even when the dangers posed by the pandemic are no longer apparent; however, data show that COVID-19 has telehealth standardized to such a degree that it will remain a substantially more common method going forward than before the pandemic. Some services including counseling and subsequent appointments may remain primarily remote for a significant number of the patients.
Nevertheless, the idea of telemedicine raises equity concerns that governments have yet to resolve concerning access to appropriate technology in LMICs with inadequate physical infrastructure for high-speed broadband connections.
Global Health Security
The COVID-19 outbreak has been progressively contagious, which has contributed to the enhancement of worldwide cooperation and funding of preparatory activities for pandemics. Deficiencies in early warning surveillance when the virus first appeared, the supply chains for relevant medical countermeasures and weaknesses in national public health systems weakened the international response.
Subsequently, the WHO, World Bank as well as G20 nations have endeavored to address the mentioned gaps. New financing models are being introduced even at G 20 level – for instance the Financial Intermediary Fund which intends to mobilise 10 billion US dollars every year for the prevention of the pandemics. Systems tracking global illnesses are also being thus fortified like the global pathogen surveillance network put forward by the Quad countries leaders including Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
If fostered as outlined below, these multilaret strategies could alter holistic capacity for collaborative response to world diseases in the long-term. However, prior efforts have lacked sufficient funding, let alone implementation, leaving questions regarding whether the proposed shifts will be realized to scale up for the next pandemic.
Conclusion
As the effects of COVID-19 are still being felt, the pandemic has evidently taken a defining shift aimed at globally reconstructing the healthcare industry. More robust infrastructure change speed, digital health and global policy collaboration after COVID-19 may enhance pandemic prevention and sustainable service delivery beyond phases of COVID-19. Nevertheless, to unlock such possible long-term advantages, attention should be paid to the existing and worsened during this pandemic , inequalities and consistent investments into the healthcare systems globally.