The impact of Covid-19 on healthcare jobs differs strikingly from country to country. Why is this? Discover Medics, a high-quality, global recruitment company, investigates. We found that factors such as the level of public versus private funding and government policy appear to be key. Another key influencer is each country’s general ‘health-status’ in terms of underlying investment and infrastructure in healthcare.
Where does this leave healthcare workers?
While regular hospital visits and surgeries plummet, the demands on hospitals due to the number of Covid-19 patients and enhanced safety measures rise. This extraordinary contradiction may leave many medics undecided about their next move. Let’s take a look at some examples of the impact on medical jobs globally.
Medical Jobs in the UK
The largest part of the health system in the UK – the National Health Service or NHS – has contributed to a positive outlook for healthcare roles in the UK. For example, while the healthcare sector has the third-largest pool of at-risk jobs in the US, the analysis of data for the UK suggests a much more modest impact on medical jobs in that sector (source: McKinsey). The NHS is more concerned about the long-term spin-off effects of Covid-19 on the general health of the nation. While staff are deployed to deal with emergency Covid patients, and hospitals react to safety measures and social distancing requirements, there are less resources available for routine procedures and checkups, meaning many serious illnesses may go undiagnosed or untreated.
The good news is that the UK Government has been quick to react, increasing public funding to healthcare. Also, the introduction of a new Health and Care Visa, launched in August 2020, will make it cheaper, quicker and easier for the best healthcare professionals from around the world to take up medical jobs in the NHS (source: www.gov.uk). The new visa promises outstanding opportunities for medics to build their expertise and enhance their careers in the health system – world-renowned for clinical excellence – while providing the UK with the brightest global medical talent.
The future of healthcare in the UAE
Long before Covid-19 made the serious shortfalls in healthcare provision so apparent elsewhere, the UAE was planning for and leading the way in the provision of excellent care. The UAE government has invested in the sector for many years as part of the ‘UAE Vision 2021’, designed to propel the country forward in terms of innovation and dramatically improve the quality of life for citizens and residents alike (see our analysis: ‘The UAE’s Inspiring Vision for Healthcare’).
The result of this wholesale investment means that the UAE had the infrastructure to get on top of the virus fast. A huge number of tests were deployed throughout the country – as of July 2020 482 tests had been conducted per 1000 population (source: ourworldindata.org) – successfully leading to the isolation and treatment of cases.
Technologically advanced, the UAE healthcare sector quickly adapted to the evolving situation, and the fast adoption of virtual appointments by the population kept the hospitals functioning at a regular pace. This rapid response also created a high level of confidence, meaning citizens were more willing to resume in-patient appointments and procedures, and the full reopening of hospitals occurred more quickly than elsewhere. Overall, a high level of government funding and a well-supported private system has worked together to counter the challenge of Covid-19 and the health sector is robustly positioned to offer high-quality medical jobs in the UAE and welcome more healthcare workers in the years to come.
The US situation
Hospital closures, reduced hours, and termination of contracts for doctors, nurses and hospital staff may seem preposterous during a pandemic. However, this is increasingly the case across the United States. Social distancing practices has led to less footfall and less in-person visits in hospitals and private practices, but the biggest factor affecting bottom lines is the reduced number of elective procedures and surgeries. While this is a combination of less demand due to safety fears or the need to prepare for COVID-19 patient loads, as a guide, surgeries have been reduced by approximately 50 percent nationwide. As the US health system is 100% privately run, the lack of a regular stream of public funding to shore up the gap is becoming increasingly apparent.
Coping with healthcare in India
The majority privately-run healthcare system in India has risen to the occasion in offering testing, preparing isolation beds for the treatment of virus-positive patients or deploying equipment and staff to special Covid-19 hospitals. Similar to the US however, whilst the private healthcare sector is fully prepared for every eventuality, it is also a reality that healthcare is facing the burden of allocating resources and equipment to ensure that hospitals are 100 percent prepared for the pandemic, while experiencing a sharp drop in footfalls, elective surgeries and international patients and the much-needed income they generate, putting healthcare jobs at risk.
Discover Medics – experienced in finding the best medics and sourcing the highest quality medical jobs in the UK, Ireland and the UAE.