#BTEditorial – Crowded out by the COVID pandemic

It is most unfortunate how the treatment for so many medical conditions has been hijacked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation has become so acute that there is now a general fear among many people, who believe that even seeking health care could put you at risk of contracting the disease.

The fear is not an irrational one because community spread of COVID-19 appears to be so rampant, particularly the highly transmissible variants, and remaining in an enclosed area among people for an extended period, greatly increases your chances of exposure to the viral illness.

What has made the situation on the ground in Barbados even more tenuous for people seeking medical care for conditions other than coronavirus, is the likelihood of excessive delays because human and other resources are stretched to the limits.

With about 1 000 people under medical care for COVID-19, it is difficult to reconcile that there are adequate resources and personnel to respond to everyday medical occurrences in the current environment.

This country has a very limited set of medical resources at its disposal. And even with the assistance of nurses and doctors from Cuba and other health professionals from Ghana, the resources are so thinly stretched, they are insufficient for the growing number of COVID-19 infected persons as we would expect.

One must not forget that the island still must manage its main 500-bed Queen Elizabeth Hospital, numerous geriatric facilities, and our network of polyclinics across the country.

With our undesirable statistics on non-communicable diseases, it is understandable that we are also facing mammoth challenges with COVID-19 because of the susceptibility of those with pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, to have deadly outcomes if they become infected.

According to a 2017 World Health Organisation and United Nations Development Programme report, out of island population of 270,000 people, 49,000 people or 18 per cent were on treatment for hypertension, with 1,000 new cases of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke hospitalised each year.

Even more disturbing was that IHD, diabetes and stroke represented the top three causes of death on the island. It is unclear where COVID-19 falls as a cause of death for the past two years, but we expect it has been the leading cause of illness here since it was first diagnosed in March 2020.

As a country, we are spending $64 million annually on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and an estimated $38 million per year is required to scale up a limited set of prevention and treatment for such conditions.

All this paints a sad picture of our health care system under severe stress, long before the arrival of this crippling pandemic. We have referenced the major medical conditions. However, we have not factored in diseases such as cancer and other ailments that are also impacting our population.

And so, when our medical practitioners and health care professionals plea with the public to get vaccinated and to follow the protocols, we must examine the requests not only in the context of COVID-19 but in relation to the provision of healthcare as a whole.

While many people may recover from COVID-19, that is not the end of the story. While treating these patients, and redirecting vital healthcare dollars to one illness, the rest of the system is collapsing under the weight of this pandemic.

This brings us to the fact that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the usual high-profile activities to commemorate the month and bring awareness to the disease, have been shelved as a result of the pandemic.

It is commendable that the major sponsors of activities such the CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank’s Walk For The Cure, have tried to maintain interest in the activity by making it a wholly virtual event, this does come close to the hype created by the actual walk.

This month, thousands of adults and children would be taking to the streets to exercise, purchasing their pink shirts to provide financial support to the Barbados Cancer Society, participating in breast screening programmes.

This is just an example of how the pandemic has and continues to alter our way of life. We must be very watchful during this period, as reports indicate that while most of our attention is focused on coronavirus, diseases like tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria are spreading in some countries.