Sultana Afdhal, CEO of World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH).
Doha: A survey by the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a Qatar Foundation initiative, showed a sharp decline in the standard of care globally since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The study showed that the incredibly high workload during the pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of healthcare professionals, bringing down the standard of care delivery globally.
About 59 percent of the healthcare professionals surveyed from the UK, US, Nigeria, and India agreed that their mental health has suffered due to working throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.
Nearly half (48%) recognised that this has adversely impacted their ability to provide a high standard of patient care, with 56 percent saying they were inclined to leave their jobs since the global health crisis began.
Commenting on the result of the survey, WISH CEO, Sultana Afdhal said, "While health and care workers routinely experience physical and emotional stress from working in high-pressure environments, delivering care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these experiences, leading to an alarming impact on the mental health of caregivers on a global scale."
"It is imperative that governments, health systems and industry leaders listen to those that have been on the front line and learn from their experiences, to improve our collective response to the global mental health crisis that continues to compromise the quality of patient care across communities," Afdhal added.
The CEO of WISH called for the revisiting of existing mechanisms, devising strategies and rebuilding systems that help lift the burden on health and care workers and enable them to enhance care delivery.
WISH is a global platform that gathers healthcare experts, policymakers and innovators to unite to build a healthier world.
The sixth edition of the summit is set to take place on October 4-6 in Doha, Qatar and virtually, under the banner of "Healing the Future." The summit will thoroughly explore the legacy of COVID-19 from various perspectives, including how to build more resilient and sustainable healthcare systems, and improve our response to the mental health crisis faced by health and care workers.
