IMAGINE a medical frontline worker in Sabah who is overworked because of the sheer number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals, and because there are too few doctors and nurses to deal with the pandemic.
He is stressed out because of this, and he lives in a Targeted Enhanced Movement Control Order area. He is worried that he will get infected and will, in turn, infect his family and friends.
He is on the verge of burnout, both physically and mentally. This is exactly what is happening with our medical frontliners all across the nation.
They may soon, or have already, suffered some sort of fatigue and stress. But it's even worse in Sabah, which is bearing the brunt of the pandemic's third wave so far.
These are the sacrifices they make for us. But, these sacrifices may have far-reaching consequences not just for the frontliners, but their patients as well.
Medical experts say mental and physical health issues will continue to manifest in different ways as people adjust to the long-term changes in life and daily routine.
Apart from the risks that mental and physical fatigue bring to healthcare workers, it also poses a danger to the patients. Such stressors can cause healthcare personnel to become less attentive in managing patients.
And this could eventually lead to the collapse of a unit or facility. The government needs to incentivise our medical frontliners. We are not just talking about extra allowances.
As the Malaysian Public Health Physicians' Association puts it, the need for rest aside, frontline workers could use some form of recreation and be assisted in some way or another in managing their families. This could be aid in the form of nurseries, food and transport.
Another suggestion is for more healthcare workers to be mobilised from other parts of the country and sent to areas where there are not enough staff to deal with the high number of patients.
If anything, this will help with duty rotation, allowing personnel to be able to take more frequent breaks. We need to look out for the welfare of our medical frontliners — if they are not well enough to perform their duties, then we are in big trouble.
But more than that, we need to reward them for the long 10 months in which they have been performing admirably.
This is where it is hoped that the 2021 Budget will provide. A large part of next year's budget needs to be dedicated to public health, and a good portion of this needs to go towards incentives and aid to our medical frontliners.
This should include monetary incentives and a bigger slice of the pie for mental healthcare issues. Let's look at it this way: Covid-19 will last well into 2021. That would mean more than a year fighting a pandemic.
That is enough to make even the sanest person go insane. For too long, we have been calling frontliners, especially medical frontiners, our heroes. It is time we showed them just how much we appreciate them.