Doctors concerned about those with legacy health issues

The medical fraternity in Barbados is worried about a troubling new COVID-19 legacy issue that is occurring here every day which threatens an already dire health situation in the country.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) Dr Russell Broome-Webster said on Friday that people are presenting to the doctor with COVID-19 symptoms, months after contracting the virus, resulting in potential medical complications for those with underlying health issues.

Dr Broome-Webster has issued a warning to the country regarding the fallout from people who are getting the disease.

“We see persons come into our office literally with symptoms, sometimes weeks, sometimes months after having COVID. How do we now interpret that? That’s a whole new legacy issue from COVID. It’s not just a common flu or a common cold that you will get over. People are persistently having symptoms for long periods, which complicate otherwise…sometimes normal persons even complicate their underlying non-communicable illnesses,” the BAMP spokesman said.

“So we are seeing all of that on a daily basis. We [BAMP] must continue to represent the public health of the country to the best of our ability, hoping that all the policy-makers can listen in closely, and it helps to inform their ability to make the best decision at a more holistic level for the country,” the medical doctor declared.

He said BAMP will continue to make recommendations to the government, adding that some will be coming out soon.

Dr Broome-Webster also cautioned that the continuing fallout from COVID could undermine the gains accomplished in healthcare which had been fought for over the past four to five decades.

“In general, there is a relaxation of restrictions in Barbados, and certainly it is something that we need to continue to focus on at a personal and at a national level, to wear masks and to get vaccinated.

“These are the two main things that will make a difference, because, when people try to get their healthcare, how are they getting their healthcare; how are the NCDs being managed that have been there before COVID? How are the patients who have post-COVID syndrome…many of them who continue to have to struggle weeks and weeks after COVID; we are still learning about post-COVID syndrome. These are the kinds of issues that would be ongoing as a legacy within our healthcare system and could definitely undermine the efforts that we put out to manage all the things that we have been managing in health for the past 50 to 60 years,” the spokesman stated.

Dr Broome-Webster also warned the country’s dominant focus on COVID could compromise all the treatment and care for those serious diseases which were being managed long before the coronavirus emerged on the scene.

He identified some of the areas which could be comprised as HIV and AIDS,  infectious disease management, wellness, children and immunisation, NCD care, preventative screening for cancer and treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) for all the other issues that people have including physiotherapy and nutrition.

“All these issues become compromised because we have a healthcare system that has a lot of focus on COVID from a resource issue and also from a finance issue. So Kensington Oval [where cricket fans were maskless] is just one event. There are many events going on every day; there are many issues happening every day and we need to be focused on trying to change the trajectory so to speak as best as we can,” the BAMP PRO suggested.

Dr Broome-Webster said there is a lot of talk and not enough emphasis on the importance of vaccination, particularly in cases where people are fully inocculated.

“In the context of Omicron, we really need people to be boosted. The more people that are boosted, meaning having a third dose, the more people that are fully vaccinated, significantly impacts the burden of disease on the country, the number of people who get ill, the number of people that have severe outcomes as a result of COVID and subsequent issues in the long-run. We will be dealing with COVID for a long time and we need to get everybody as prepared as possible,” he told Barbados TODAY.

While acknowledging that Barbados has one of the better healthcare systems across the region, the medical practitioner expressed concern that it had become a “massive” financial burden on the country, which has been continuously stretched due to the “progression” of non-communicable diseases in Barbados over the last 50 years.

“That issue had us stretched before COVID arrived. We were already kind of stretched and really struggling and then COVID lands on top of that. Our major thing is that COVID is here, and all the other things are here as well; and we need to do the best job we can with COVID, but also recognise that it is a confluence of circumstances; COVID and all the other healthcare things that existed before are now integrated into our healthcare system. It is not separate and apart,” Dr Broome-Webster stressed, adding that the country still needs to provide everything that was done before, along with COVID itself.

He urged Barbadians to continue reminding themselves that the pandemic is still here and that there is still ways to go before the island can return to some normalcy, particularly as a small economy.

The BAMP PRO also said his organisation is sticking to its objection against mass gatherings, but believes limited events with appropriate public health measures in place, are useful.

Asked if BAMP would support a resumption of Crop Over this year Dr Broome-Webster replied: “We can’t say what we support and what we don’t support, if we don’t know what has been suggested and what the actual final analysis is. We certainly would be part of any conversation to return to any events and those types of things. Our input, as has been with previous conversations about events ongoing and so on, we have made input and suggestions to all of those things. We will continue to give recommendations with reference to that.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb