How Portugal compares in 2022 (part I): response to Covid-19
The question is not if, but when, the next public health emergency will arise. Therefore, the most critical phase of the management of Covid-19 has passed, the time is both to not be afraid and not to forget. It is necessary to assess what went well, what went wrong and why to ensure the best defense of the population, health institutions, the economy and professionals working on the front line.
It was known – and the pandemic has shown this – that the response to emergencies is prepared in moments of calm. If changes in the financing, organization and management of health care have not been integrated, then it is legitimate to demand this inaction from decision-makers. A path is being made in Portugal – the Executive Directorate of the National Health Service (SNS) being the best example – but nothing is consolidated. Nor is it possible to perceive to what extent the changes will be felt in the day-to-day of the health services.
All the information is not too much to understand the areas in which Portugal was better and worse in the fight against Covid-19. It is expected that this exercise will be carried out in the various bodies of the Ministry of Health.
The report has been released Health at a Glance 2022 signed by the OECD, perhaps the most respected and comprehensive international health comparison instrument. The many methodological restrictions should bring caution to the literal interpretation of the results, even so it is possible to identify trends that help in the exercise of assessing the strengths and tolerating the Portuguese response to the pandemic.
A disruptive situation like Covid-19 is not consistent with readings of 8 or 80. With the exception of the USA, Brazil, England (in the first phase) and China (in the current phase), country responses have had ups and downs, but within of democratic limits and what science responded to.
Therefore, anyone who says that Portugal did poorly in managing the pandemic looks at the part that interests them the most, as much as anyone who says that Portugal did well.
Comparing with other countries, the best and worst aspects of the Portuguese response to Covid-19 mentioned in this report are:
positive aspects
· Campaigns aimed at young people on the importance of vaccination and compliance with preventive measures (eg wearing a mask), regardless of the enormous delay in realizing this need.
· Implementation and/or reinforcement of psychosocial support in schools and for the population through telephone lines.
· Food programs for vulnerable children and families.
· Increased availability of teleconsultations.
· Sharing skills among health professionals. For example, the possibility for pharmacists to renew medical prescriptions and administer vaccines. This example is important because it shows: how much it is possible to explore such solutions for other functions and to involve other professional groups. This is an old claim and has exhibited a huge corporate contest.
· Services dedicated to the monitoring and follow-up of patients with long-term Covid-19.
· Recovery from scheduled surgeries. If the indicator alone is positive, it is necessary to know the conditions for the professionals and the effects from now on for the motivation and capacity of the professionals to respond to the pressures that are expected in the winter.
· High levels of vaccination.
negative aspects
· Low level of physical activity of children and young people and significant worsening of sedentary lifestyle. This problem must be interpreted as a risk factor for the health of children and young people and as a sign of low health literacy, whose resolution requires the involvement of the SNS, parents and the school community.
· Interruptions in the functioning of health services to ensure the response to Covid-19. The most welcoming services were those of psychiatry, oncology and orthopedics. Although all countries have suspended and/or restructured clinical activities, there were variations in delay (a sign of greater or lesser preparation of health services) and in the effects on the health of the population (sign of the social, demographic and epidemiological profile of the Portuguese population) .
· High impact of the pandemic on the worsening of heart disease.