HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT
PANDEMIC PIVOTS MIND 'n' MATTER Given that the mind defines our behaviours, and the matters that drive it, our environment becomes one of the most important factors of our well-being. The Pandemic has affected our environment in unprecedented ways, and although it is not the first or the last time such an event shook the world, it has definitely been one of the most impactful and definitive, because of the global nature of the impact. The mental being of humanity as a whole has become one of the most critical pivots of the current pandemic. Gurrit K Sethi, Strategic Advisor, Global Health Services, Global Strategic Analysis
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he pandemic has affected our lives in multifarious ways that we are still trying to ascertain, still trying to bounce back from, and ways that have left us wondering how we can transform our society for the better. Given the changed behaviours
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A SI A N H O S P I T A L & H EA LT HCAR E M A N AGE M E N T
in response to a changed environment during the pandemic, various facets of life have also evolved including how we interact, how we work, how we move around, how we conduct our business, and, most of all, of how we view our health. Our health has suddenly become a key focus including our own and others perceptions of individual health. Try sneezing in a public place today and the heads that turn with ‘the look’ tell you just that! Alongside physical health, mental health and well-being has also now taken on a new dimension. In a world where mental health always played second fiddle to priorities like work, physical health, aesthetics, etc., the COVID-19 pandemic served as a wake-up call to many. The pandemic pulled the speed brakes on many aspects of social life along with personal and professional life. It provided a
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forced break, albeit unwanted and unexpected, from overly-packed days with hours of commuting, working, and socialising in multiple physical spaces, and restricted us all to our personal confines. In these bounded personal spaces, our relationships with our own selves became ever more important and people began to be confronted by their mental health, or their continued negligence of it. Physical spaces have up till now been silos for different activities social spots for friends, houses for families, offices for work. In this set-up, mental health could easily be dissociated from our being and personal needs could easily be made second to those two extra hours in the office on a Friday, or the drink with a friend at the newest bar etc. However, being continually cooped up in the same space made it harder for
