WHO must create local footprint across global healthcare system

Australia wants the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) response and handling of the Covin-19 global pandemic investigated.

The WHO has also been under pressure from the United States, which claims the internationally funded organisation hurriedly gave China a clean bill of health over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The US further threatened to withdraw its funding of the UN agency that is responsible for international public health, placing millions of lives in developing countries at the risk of disease.

Ironically, Australia recently engaged in what can be termed as a crime against humanity by refusing to receive and extend medical attention to thousands of workers and tourists in cruise ships stranded on its shores.

To rub salt into the wound, Canberra has threatened the cruise ship captains with hefty fines and jail terms for failing to vacate its territorial waters.

What is appalling is that Australia’s medical care system has been and continues to be underutilised with excess hospital facilities, but the authorities still insist on selfishly reserving the capacity for the citizens.

Remember, this is a country that received overwhelming international help and sympathy when it suffered devastating fires.

On the other side of the world, Germany acted compassionately by airlifting Italian Covid-19 patients to be treated in its medical facilities.

This was in spite of the fact that the number of coronavirus cases in Germany was beginning to grow. This kind of collaboration and partnership at the international level should be encouraged and natured.

It seems there is lack of a clear, unified protocol at the global level on the handling of pandemics, with countries acting in a manner that advances self-preservation rather than the common good.

The WHO must now clearly spell out the guidelines and protocols to countries regarding the handling of pandemics, particularly those that remove restrictions to medical care — such as race, gender, social status and citizenship.

There should be a move to de-commercialise and internationalise local medical systems to ensure worldwide universal healthcare access.

But that can only be achieved if all countries hosted medicare facilities (call it level six or seven) funded and managed by the WHO.

These would be avenues of transfers of internationally leading medical skills and as well as centres of collaboration, dissemination of medical breakthroughs, best practices and medicare management.

Such a WHO footprint at the local level would be devoid of the profiteering that has lately permeated the medical industry.

Treatments that cure pandemics, such as vaccines and medical inventions, would automatically be the property of designated independent non-profit global institutions for faster production and distribution and wider reach.