Achieving Universal Healthcare through The Pandemic Way

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Raihan Febri Rumboko, 4th year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin, Indonesia. He is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

Obtaining the ideal objective of having accessible health care in current situation must be achieved considering the ease of access to technology, knowledge, and mobilization. Universal Health Coverage (UHC) stands as global aim that must be accomplished in order to realize this purpose. The path must be optimize using variety of resources. All countries were forced to enhance their health systems in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic which serves as a catalyst for fulfilling the fundamental requirements of primary health care.

Indirectly, the pandemic has come to act as a benchmark for how each nation conducts their respective national health system. The Global Health Security Index (2021) indicates that many nations still fall below the optimal levels of health security in handling the pandemic. This illustrates how difficult it can be to reach UHC without significant obstacles. Pandemics have an upside thing that world can learn from.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed nations to take steps in improving health system defenses against these threats. The government and health care organizations have demonstrated good awareness, shown by the improvement in primary health service quality in each country despite disruptions to health services during pandemic. Rapid global realization of UHC can be assisted by concurrent enhancements in service delivery.

Access to affordable health care with more options of treatment alternatives to optimize individuals recuperation has led to improvement. Some variables that influence this improvement include:

1. Increase in the number of primary health facilities to fulfill the demands of areas with distant health access.
2. Maximization of government health insurance, especially for diseases with special treatments such as COVID-19.
3. Easy access to health care for foreign nationals at the nearest medical facility, such as easy-to-get COVID-19 immunization.
4. Boost cure rates and reduce mortality by providing more treatment options.
5. Globally, the direction of modernizing health services is more quickly implemented in various countries.

Although UHC is being realized gradually, everyone must still take an active role in growing awareness of the idea globally. The community plays vital part in adopting healthy lifestyle, having routine checks with primary care physicians, and sorting misleading informations about adopted health programs. Reaching UHC proves ineffective without the community involvement.

In the future, medical problems will be less challenging for us to deal with since we are empowered by the UHC fundamentals. The knowledge gained from COVID-19 and other pandemics will enhance the capacity to anticipate hazards and assess potential solutions. Hopefully, the world will be ready to face many challenges lying ahead.

About the author

Raihan Febri Rumboko, 4th year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin, Indonesia. Raihan is a student with passionate views about human resource development and an intense interest in medical research. He has accomplished his significant goals so far as a result to his leadership, problem-solving, and critical thinking abilities. He always fills a lot of organizational and scientific activity throughout his daily schedule. During his busy work life, he makes attempts to look into other potential interests like sports and arts.