Disaster management is now considered as a professional field, and it requires necessary of knowledge and skill set. Those who have mastered this filed have developed some best practices, and this is the time we learn from them, and copy them.
Our administration also needs to draw from the vast repository of knowledge that has been produced over decades by the professionals in the field. One of the cardinal theoretical precepts in disaster management is known as Do-No-Harm.
In a nutshell it means while we try to do good, care must be taken that it doesn’t result in bad consequences. There are dozens of cases where people try to help the ones in crisis but end up putting them in more crises. In the present pandemic the administration tries to stretch the limits to help covid patients, by putting in extra resources and also dedicating the already in place resources.
This is really needed as the huge rush of patients cannot be handled without taking extra-ordinary steps. We must appreciate all efforts put in by the government, and also by civil society organisations. But there is a down side to it also.
While our hospitals and doctors are busy in treating covid patients, and the allied system are also fully invested into supporting the treatment processes, the systems that are in place for decades can get affected adversely. Also the patients who need emergency treatment can get ignored. Finally it is life that matters. Whether a person dies because of covid, or some other disease, it comes to the same. We, in the end, lose a life. So we need to strike a fine balance.
While we make arrangements for civid patients, we must not forget other seriously ill patient. Those having malignancies, and in need of urgent intervention, cannot be put on hold just because our hospital administration is too busy with handling the pandemic driven crisis.
A detailed analysis of the healthcare facilities, and a professional prioritisation of services, should be done in all the major hospitals to avoid the loss of life in non-covid ailments. And this must be left to doctors to decide that what can be put on hold, and what must work even in this pandemic.