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The COVID-19 pandemic is a great test for the entire world. Virtually no country’s healthcare systems were ready for what happened over the past few months. Many doctors and medical workers are among the death tolls of the pandemic. Amnesty International believes that the authorities should be held accountable for their deaths.
- More than 300 medical workers have lost their lives in the fight against COVID-19. According to Amnesty International, these figures are greatly underestimated
- Healthcare workers struggled with a lack of personal protective equipment and were punished for trying to talk about how unsafe their work is during a pandemic
- Many of them did not receive inadequate remuneration for working in difficult conditions, some had their wages frozen for several months
- In the face of the ever-progressing COVID-19 pandemic around the world, we demand that state authorities begin to take the health of medical workers and workers in basic public services seriously, said Sanhita Ambast, Amnesty International researcher
More than 19 medical workers worldwide have died from COVID-3000
Doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical workers have stood and still stand in the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report published by Amnesty International, describing the experiences of medical workers around the world, we learn that more than 19 medical workers have died due to COVID-3000. This data is likely to be understated as not all countries maintain extensive statistics on COVID-19 cases and deaths.
In Poland, four nurses, a paramedic and a physiotherapist died due to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection.
Currently, the number of medical workers who died due to COVID-19 is not monitored in the world. Amnesty International has collected and analyzed the available data which shows that more than 19 medical workers in 3000 countries have died after contracting COVID-79. Most deaths so far have been recorded in Our Country (545), USA (507), Great Britain (540, including 262 social workers), Brazil (351), Mexico (248), Italy (188), Egypt (111), Iran (91), Ecuador (82) and Spain (63).
The death of Li Wenliang, a Chinese ophthalmologist who worked in one of the hospitals in Wuhan and warned about the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, echoed loudly. The man was harassed by the police. He died on February 6 as a result of complications after being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The director of the Wuhan Wuchang Hospital also died on February 18. The man was also infected with the new coronavirus.
No personal protective equipment
Amnesty International’s report also highlights access to personal protective equipment during a pandemic. In almost all countries and areas surveyed by the organization, healthcare professionals reported serious shortages in the supply of PPE. This also applied to countries that were still before the peak of the pandemic, incl. India, Brazil and African countries.
A doctor working in Mexico City told AI that doctors spend 12 percent of their monthly salary. for personal protective equipment. The lack of PPE (personal protective equipment) was also affected by the fact that the export of certain goods was limited.
“ While countries need to provide their workers with sufficient PPE in their territories, trade restrictions can lead to an increasing shortage of goods in countries that rely on imports, ” said Sanhita Ambast, Amnesty International researcher and economic and social rights adviser and cultural.
Also in Poland, at the beginning of the pandemic, we struggled with limited access to personal protective equipment. For this reason, hospitals limited or even withheld admissions for elective procedures, and most primary care units switched to telemedicine.
On the so-called The «anti-food list», apart from antiviral and antipyretic drugs, also includes personal protective equipment.
See: The lack of masks is also a problem for doctors. Prices in wholesalers increased 500 times
Amnesty International has paid particular attention to cases of strikes, threats of strikes and protests organized by medical workers in connection with unsafe working conditions, incl. caused by a lack of personal protective equipment. In Egypt, nine medical workers were groundlessly detained on suspicion of making false statements. They all voiced their safety concerns or criticized the Egyptian government’s way of dealing with the pandemic.
Similar repression by the authorities faced medical workers in Malaysia and Our Country. There have been cases of dismissal of health workers or employees of basic public services in several countries after having made statements about work during the pandemic. Such layoffs took place, among others in the United States and Our Country.
“Medical workers can help national authorities improve their response to the pandemic and keep everyone safe – but they cannot do it if they are in prison and cannot do it if they are afraid to speak up,” said Ambast.
In Poland, the case of a midwife from Nowy Targ was famous, who was disciplinary dismissed for an entry in social media about the lack of protective masks and difficult working conditions.
See: Nurses on the front lines. President of the NRPiP: we are at war with an invisible enemy
Lack of benefits, withheld payments
During the pandemic, medical workers had to contend not only with unsafe working conditions, but also with a lack of wages or poor pay for their work. In South Sudan, government-paid doctors have not received salaries, welfare packages and medical care benefits since February.
In other countries, there was a big problem with the payment of benefits to medical workers and employees of basic public services for work during the COVID-19 pandemic. AI demands that COVID-19 be recognized as an occupational disease.
In Poland, the Ministry of Health has entered COVID-19 on the list of occupational diseases.
Stigmatization of medical workers fighting COVID-19
In the report, Amnesty International also documented cases of assault and stigmatization of medical workers due to the fact that they work with patients suffering from COVID-19. Medical workers were exposed to verbal abuse and violence. They had to deal with disinformation and stigma.
We also had a few such cases in Poland. Initially, medics were awarded with applause, but over time, insults directed at specific people appeared.
See: “The applause ended, the spitting of venom began”
“ In the face of the ever-progressing COVID-19 pandemic around the world, we demand that governments begin to take the health of medical workers and workers in basic public services seriously. Countries that have not yet reached the peak of the pandemic cannot repeat the mistakes of other governments that did not respect the rights of their workers, which had tragic consequences, appealed Sanhita Ambast.
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