The President of the World Medical Association, Dr Osahon Enabulele, has called on governments and managers of health systems to resolve the mental health, burn out and psychosocial challenges faced by physicians and other health professionals.
Dr Osahon stated this at the recently concluded fifth Global Forum on Human Resource for Health organised by the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Speaking on the themes ‘The impact of COVID-19 on the health workforce – The past, present, and future’ and ‘Protecting the rights of health and care workers in times of pandemics and beyond -How to move from technical guidance to effective regulation,’ he decried the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The WMA President also lamented health system challenges on the mental health and psychosocial state of the health workforce, the inability of governments and managers of health systems to concretely address the challenge.
He traced these to apprehension over inadequate supplies of personal protective equipment with the attendant fear of increased exposure to risk, violence against them, the stressful work routine, the crisis of brain drain and increased workload, with resultant increase in burn-out of the health workforce, and increased exit from the health professions.
“I call for the provision of equitable access to mental and psychosocial care services to victims of the disabling working conditions.
“I charge the governments and managers of health systems to altruistically address the inequity in health workforce distribution, and to show greater political commitment to prioritised investments in the well-being, rights, safety and working conditions of the health workforce, comprehensive legal framework to protect the rights of the health workforce and reduce the incidence of violence against them, as well as strengthening the provisions for the health workforce in the evolving draft of the pandemic treaty, amongst other recommendations,” he stated.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, called for useful suggestions to help resolve the challenges of the health workforce.
He assured that the WHO will accord greater attention to the issues of the health workforce to aid the attainment of Universal Health Coverage.
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