
Fortune News | May 27,2023
Jun 20 , 2020
By Eden Sahle
There is a friend of mine who knows about sleep deprivation like no other. Working double shifts and sleeping on wooden benches, he is one of those strong men and women on the front line of the fight against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Our healthcare professionals are putting their lives on the line to save the lives of others each day with the lack of even the most basic infrastructure.
For my friend, the COVID-19 pandemic means the disruption of his previous practice, where he cared for a single patient at a time. Now he has to engage with multiple patients at a time in a public health institution.
Making that sort of abrupt change is not easy for him and his colleagues who have had to adapt to ever-changing unpleasant new realities. They were not expecting to contend with a flood of patients. It is not just new COVID-19 patients who are impacted but others that have been affected with the strain put on the healthcare system.
Even under normal circumstances, our medical professionals are expected to deliver more than their training prepares them for. They are not provided with adequate medical gear and equipment, they face high rates of infection, and the stress that comes from dealing with patients in pain is often exhausting and distressing. Apart from a lack of facilities, the grossly inadequate number of medical doctors has added to the burden.
The COVID-19 outbreak is especially taxing. It often involves working in an environment where not enough is known yet about the illness, but health professionals are expected to meet expectations with a similar level of effectiveness. The emotional and psychological impact takes its own toll, as their exposure to the virus negatively impacts their social life.
We all may be living in uncertain times, but it is truer of these professionals. Society owes them a debt of gratitude for the resilience and dedication to their profession. Without them, we will not be able to defeat the pandemic.
As the number of cases has been rising over the past month, with daily rates having reached three digits, the best way we can still keep ourselves safe is by protecting ourselves from the disease.
Although we may not have the medical skill to treat patients, we have hard-wired humanity in all of us to be there for one another and to appreciate those who are helping the country. We should all go beyond our comfort zone and cope with the lifestyle changes the pandemic has brought.
Certainly, the pandemic is a new aspect in our lives that is largely out of our control. Until these professionals can come up with an effective enough treatment, it will be out of our control.
There are already promising clinical trials taking place at the moment. One of the most promising seems to be Dexamethasone, a low-dose steroid treatment that has been seen to cut deaths by a third for patients on ventilators and a fifth for those on respirators.
What this shows us is that the pandemic will come to an end, and we will once again venture outside without fear. What is expected of us is patience to stay put, while our health professionals save the lives of those who have unfortunately contracted the disease.
We also do not know whether after the pandemic life as we knew it might be significantly different. We may reassess our values and institutions. Most likely, we would attempt to look after our environment better and work to strengthen our health system, including providing healthcare professionals with the resources they need. The silver lining might be that we will come out of this fairly committed to caring for our doctors and nurses, in much the same way they took care of us in our time of need.
PUBLISHED ON
Jun 20,2020 [ VOL
21 , NO
1051]
Fortune News | May 27,2023
Viewpoints | Dec 29,2018
Fortune News | Jan 01,2023
Commentaries | Apr 25,2020
Radar | Apr 02,2022
Radar | Mar 05,2022
Radar | Aug 07,2021
Radar | Jul 13,2019
Viewpoints | Sep 23,2023
Radar | Sep 19,2020
Photo Gallery | 83249 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 75416 Views | Apr 26,2019
Fineline | 58831 Views | Oct 03,2020
Fortune News | 58578 Views | Jul 18,2020
Dec 24 , 2022
Biniam Mikru heads the department of cabinet affairs under Mayor Adanech Abiebie. But...
Jul 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
Nov 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
Nov 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
Dec 9 , 2023
Making a paradigm shift seems elusive for those in the driving seat of Ethiopia's mon...
Dec 2 , 2023
The symphony of traffic noise in Addis Abeba is not just a sign of life, but a siren...
Nov 25 , 2023
Ethiopia's quest to develop a functioning capital market is a demanding yet not unach...
Nov 18 , 2023
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has made a fervent call for landlocked Ethiopia to ga...
Dec 9 , 2023 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Amhara Bank finds itself embroiled in a detrimental controversy after its Board Chair...
Dec 9 , 2023 . By AKSAH ITALO
Moha Softdrink Industries S.C., Ethiopia's leading beverage bottler, is in a precarious situation after seeing its founding General Manager...
Dec 9 , 2023 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
The Addis Abeba City Administration officials have sanctioned plot allotments for various developers, com...
Dec 9 , 2023 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Ethiopia's manufacturing sector remains in a tangled web of macroeconomic pressures, security challenges...