Impacts of COVID-19 on Supply of Health Facilities

Impacts of COVID-19 on Supply of Health Facilities

The COVID-19 virus has spread worldwide and in the United States. Many people have been infected, leading to the death of some individuals. Prevention measures made to curb the spread of the virus proved to be costly as they have strained the existing economic resources. Actions associated with the prevention of the virus caused a lot of harm to almost all sectors of the country, such as transportation services, industrialization, business, and health services (Iyengar et al. 2020). The virus has dramatically affected hospitals’ supply of healthcare facilities, causing a significant strain on the supply chain’s financial resources and supply of protective equipment. Hire our assignment writing services in case your assignment is devastating you.

Effects of COVID-19 on Demand and Supply of Health Facilities

Hospitals were overwhelmed due to the increased numbers of infected individuals. This led to increased infections; hence, there were shortages of COVID-19 test kits and face masks, inadequate space to accommodate the victims, and exposure of healthcare officers to the virus. Even though efforts were made to ensure the supply of COVID-19 test kits, many people were affected, thus overwhelming the collection of test kits. Additionally, testing reagents were insufficient to serve millions of infected people (Iyengar et al., 2020). Increased demand for home COVID-19 test Kits also affected the supply of COVID-19 test Kits.

Secondly, export restrictions prevented the distribution of face and surgical masks to countries that could not produce this equipment (Iyengar et al., 2020); therefore, the increased number of infected people overwhelmed the supply chain. Thirdly, most countries were not aware of the COVID-19 outbreak. Unfortunately, the well-equipped health centers were not enough to accommodate the increased number of COVID-19 patients (Iyengar et al., 2020). Inadequate space resulted in many deaths. Fourth, the increased number of COVID-19 patients in healthcare centers led to widespread virus spread to healthcare officers handling the patients. Generally, the virus affected most staff in healthcare centers, thus affecting overall service delivery (Iyengar et al. 2020). Most healthcare officers lost their lives, leading to an inadequate labor supply in the healthcare sector.

Impacts of COVID-19 on Disruption of Supply Chain

Widespread COVID-19 overwhelmed the supply of healthcare facilities such as surgical masks, diagnostic test Kits, and personal protective equipment such as hand gloves. Overwhelming healthcare facilities led to the disruption of supply chain management, which led to financial constraints, delayed patient access, and treatment decisions.

The demand for healthcare facility equipment was very high due to the increased number of COVID-19 patients. The increased demand overstretched the financial budget allocated for the healthcare sector. Countries opted to borrow and sacrifice budgets of other sectors of the economy to save lives. Increased demand for personal protective equipment overwhelmed the supply. The suppliers run out of stock due to inadequate raw materials (Bharatendu et al., 2020). Additionally, delayed supply led to poor access to health care services for patients.

Conclusion

Local industries should continue producing protective equipment such as face masks to address shortages of self-protective equipment. Protective measures such as wearing face masks in public, maintaining social distances, avoiding public places, vaccination, and cleaning hands should be implemented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The government should also ensure safety measures are taken to avoid spreading the virus. Lastly, enough resources should be allocated to the health sector to help curb the spread of the pandemic.

 References

Bharatendu, C., Goh, Y., Tang, J. Z., Sooi, K. W., Tan, Y. L., … & Sharma, V. K. (2020). Headaches associated with personal protective equipment–A cross‐sectional study among frontline healthcare workers during COVID‐19. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 60(5), 864-877. https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/

Iyengar, K. P., Vaishya, R., Bahl, S., & Vaish, A. (2020). Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the supply chain in healthcare. British Journal of Healthcare Management, 26(6), 1-4. https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/full/10.12968/bjhc.2020.0047

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Primary Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions with your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Impacts of COVID-19 on Supply of Health Facilities

For this Discussion Board, please complete the following:

Nearly everyone in the United States—and the world as a whole—has now been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything from schools to hospitals to workplaces has been affected. Among the greatest impact seen has been the impact on the various lines of supplies in the medical field. Please review this article.

Share how the pandemic has had an impact on both the demand for and supply of healthcare goods and services.
Describe the impact the supply chain disruption had on healthcare organizations in your own community in terms of financial impact, patient access, treatment decisions, or shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for essential healthcare personnel.
Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-200 word reply about his or her Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

What did you learn from your classmate’s posting? What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?
What clarification do you need regarding the posting?
What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?