Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
COVID-19 As A Challenge For Healthcare Workers: Exploring The Barriers To Patient Care In Government Healthcare Sector Of Islamabad, Pakistan
Nain Danish , Majid Hussain Alias Ghalib Hussain , Guljana Mehboob , Aruba Irfan
Abstract
This study identifies some of the challenges faced by healthcare workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic which began at the start of 2020. The COVID-19 virus wreaked havoc in the world being highly transmissible with a high rate of mortality. This study aimed to explore the challenges faced by the healthcare workers for patient care during COVID-19 and it highlights multiple challenges that were faced by the frontline healthcare workers. Moreover, this study also shares some recommendations that can help to overcome mentioned challenges in the discussion part of this paper. It also sheds light on the underlying causes which posed numerous obstacles for healthcare workers in providing patient care during the COVID-19 emergency crisis. For this study, qualitative data collection tools and techniques including key informants, rapport building, semi-structured interview guides, in-depth interviews, and convenient sampling were used. Moreover, interviews were recorded and transcribed. The research was conducted at the District Health Office (G9) and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Hospital Islamabad. It was identified that weak governance, lack of political will, fragile healthcare policies, an underfunded healthcare system, inadequate human resources in the health sector, and lack of updated tools and technology were the major contributing factors resulting in the challenges for frontline healthcare workers to provide quality care to patients. The recommendations of this study are to bring good governance in the healthcare sector, improve funding especially to manage a pandemic, develop new health policies, provide modern diagnostic technology, and show the political will to combat any pandemic. Through these measures, the government can make itself prepared for fighting against any pandemic in the future.
Pages: 5506-5519
Keywords: COVID-19, Pandemic, Challenges, Healthcare Workers, Resources