The world in the face of the epidemic .. a shortage of medical staff and medicine

The World Health Organization announced on Tuesday in a report issued in the midst of the emerging Corona virus crisis, that the world needs about six million additional people working in the field of nursing, at a time when a European report warned that some countries of the continent are starting to see a shortage of medicines, especially those related to With corona virus.

In the report shared by the international campaign "Norsing Now" and the International Council of Nurses, the organization stressed the primary role of professional nurses, who represent more than half of the medical staff.

The report pointed out that there are about 28 million professional nurses and nurses in the world between 2014 and 2018, and their number has risen to about 33 million recently, but there is still a shortage of about 6 million, especially in the poorest countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America .

persistent need
The three organizations called upon the countries to define their urgent needs in this field, and to make investment in training, work and rehabilitation a priority.

The director of the International Council of Nurses Howard Caton pointed out that the rate of injuries, medical errors and deaths "is higher when the number of nurses is small."

For her part, Mary Watkins - who co-authored the report - expressed concern that most countries no longer produce enough professionals in this field, and depend on immigrants, and said that "80% of professional nurses in the world are currently working to serve 50% Of the population".

Watkins asked that medical personnel be subjected to medical examinations to detect the Corona virus, at a time when reports indicate that 9% of these people are infected with the virus in Italy, and 14% in Spain.

"There is a large percentage of medical staff who will refrain from working for fear that they will become ill." Nor can they ascertain, because the examination was not carried out, whether they actually had it, and now they have immunity to it, that is, they are able to return to work.

Lack of medication
In another context, a report of the European Medicines Agency stated that "the continued availability of medicines, especially those used for Covid-19 patients, has become a matter of great concern to them."

"Some member states of the European Union have indicated that they are beginning to see a shortage of certain medicines used for Covid-19 patients or expect this shortfall to happen very soon," the agency, which is based in Amsterdam and plays an organizational role, added in a statement.

Europe is the continent most affected by the epidemic, with more than 50 thousand deaths recorded so far, under great pressure on hospitals trying to deal with the wave of people infected with the Corona virus.

appeal
Nine major European hospitals launched an appeal in which they requested help at the end of March, calling for international cooperation to ensure that the supplies of medicines used to relieve symptoms of the disease are not interrupted.

In particular, it warned of the lack of drugs necessary for the recovery of patients, including muscle relaxants, tranquilizers, and analgesics that are rapidly implemented in light of the "absence" of possibilities for restocking them, or at least "insufficient" due to the epidemic.

This prompted the European Medicines Agency to take urgent measures that obligate each pharmaceutical company to contact them directly to expedite the process of informing the concerned authorities in the sector of the European Union.

The rush to covid-19 treatments, which have received widespread publicity even though they are still in the testing phase, has caused problems for patients using these drugs for other diseases.

The European Medicines Agency stressed last week that the resort to chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine used to treat malaria should only be for treatment with COFED-19 as part of clinical tests or in a "national emergency".

She warned that both of them have a number of side effects that may be serious, and also indicated the risk of a lack of hydroxychloroquine, which is also used in treating arthritis patients.