Opinionated

Notes from a pandemic

Almost two years ago to the day was the last time that those involved in the international healthcare sector gathered in Dubai for Arab Health, with little idea of what was to come.

At the point we arrived in the UAE there were 3-4 cases of the newly christened COVID-19 virus in the Emirate; by the time I returned to the UK there were many more. I remember getting on the plane home, looking at all of my fellow passengers wearing masks and thinking that perhaps this virus wasn’t going away quickly.

‘2020 - What’s Next for Healthcare?’ was the line on the cover of our magazine. If we had known that the answer would be pandemic, lockdowns and the fastest vaccine rollout in history, would our global healthcare systems have handled things any di erently? Particularly in terms of our public health messaging.

Looking at the responses of di erent health systems to the pandemic, there was a marked di erence in the ways in which countries and their governments responded to the threat.

The Middle East, New Zealand and Singapore, to name a few, locked down hard immediately and got ahead of the virus, minimising cases and managing the load on their health systems while the rest of us tried to figure out what we had on our hands.

In these countries the messaging was firm, clear and swi - stay at home, minimise contacts with others, wash your hands.

For the UK and the US however, along with many other nations, the messaging was confused. The British Government was slow to act and when they did it seemed rushed, even reticent. The US was even slower and who can forget the confusion emanating from their leader who told US citizens that this was no worse than flu and, at one point, seemed to indicate that drinking bleach was the answer.

Of course the paucity of movement from the UK and US Governments pales into insignificance compared to the situation in Brazil, where the president simply ignored the existence of the virus until cases and deaths had reached incredible proportions.

As the pandemic moved through its various phases, UK messaging became more and more confused, many of these may be familiar:

Go out and eat in restaurants to help the economy, but not in groups of more than 6 unless you’re in a bubble, in which case it’s fine.

Steve Gardner

Managing Director

Wear a mask, if you want to. If not, wear a lanyard explaining why you don’t want to. Work from home. But if you work in a variety of ever changing sectors, go to work, and your children can go to school, or at least some of them can. You MUST get vaccinated, if you want to, and have a booster. If you want to travel, you must have a vaccine passport, but if you don’t want to then it’s easy enough to fake a lateral flow test. (Particularly if you’re very good at tennis and want to travel to Australia which has faced severe restrictions). Don’t have parties, unless you’re the Prime Minister of a small North Atlantic nation. Oh, and feel free to visit pretty landmarks, but only if you need to test your eyesight before a long drive (only some of you with knowledge of the UK will get this one).

The point of all this is the learning we need to make for the future. Public health messaging is key. Clear, succinct, easy to understand and not constantly changing messaging ensures better healthcare, not just in a pandemic but at all times.

Something we can learn from our hosts here in the UAE?