Healthcare Access

Healthcare has been severely neglected due to governments’ irresponsible pandemic response. Governments around the world have prevented people from receiving healthcare, public or private, claiming that the spare capacity is needed in the healthcare system. Overflowing hospitals have also been used as justification for new lockdowns around the world in December 2020, although the data shows that hospitals have normal patient levels. For instance, the province of Ontario re-entered lockdown around Christmas due to over-burdened hospitals, but in reality, the province averages just one COVID patient per hospital.

Denial of healthcare is an unconscionable violation of human rights. Article 12.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights declares, “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” Preventing people from getting the medical attention that they need is not a public health practice. It is physical assault causing bodily harm and manslaughter.

The health fallout from these unthinkable actions has been immense. Access to healthcare in wealthy countries is still quite limited in early 2021. Governments have essentially stopped healthcare providers from treating patients, except for most emergencies. In January 2021, the Royal College of Surgeons revealed that many urgent procedures for British children, including emergency operations, were cancelled due to the pandemic response. The Royal College specified reasons for the cancellations, such as healthy hospital personnel forced to stay at home or reassigned to work with the less urgent but more popular COVID cases. 

Contrary to the claims of the UK government and media, British hospitals are at normal capacity in January 2021. A few facts about British hospitals: they are normally 90% full in the winter; there are fewer beds per population than many other European countries; and the number of beds has plummeted over the years. England had 299,000 hospital beds in 1988. In 2019, it had only 141,000: a 53% drop. Hospital capacity was certainly not the reason for England’s December 2020 lockdown.

An astonishing 90% of medical procedures were cancelled in Britain early in the pandemic. Cancellations due to lockdown include most elective surgery, diagnostic and screening procedures, routine checkups including for child development, cancer treatment, heart surgery, mental health visits and many other vital procedures. Emergencies medical care refers to that for which a person is likely to die in a matter of days if not received immediately. It does not include, for instance, cancer treatment, for which a person will die in a few months if withheld.

The University of Birmingham has estimated that 28 million operations were cancelled or postponed worldwide in the first 12 weeks of lockdown, with a further 2.4 million surgeries cancelled each week of disruption. Their study also estimates that 38% of cancer surgery in the world has been cancelled. The Institute of Fiscal Studies reported that 3.6 million people over 50 had a hospital treatment cancelled in the UK between February and May 2020. 

As a result of government’s interference with healthcare, hundreds of millions of people are continuing to suffer from their disease, seen a worsening of their condition, and/or had their life expectancy significantly reduced. Many people have already died, from their disease or from suicide, due to refusal of medical treatment from lockdowns.

An April 2020 University College London study found that chemotherapy treatment has decreased 60% in the UK, with urgent referrals for cancer diagnosis dropping 89%. Eye care has all but ceased. The Royal National Institute of Blind People estimates that thousands of people in Wales are at risk of irreversible sight loss, including blindness, due to lockdown treatment delays. Many more are experiencing diminished vision which could be corrected once treated. 

In an Angus Reid Poll in May 2020, 38% of Canadians stated that they had an interruption in healthcare during lockdown. One quarter said they were not able to make an appointment with their family doctor and 1 in 5 reported that they were not able to get a diagnostic test, like a CT or MRI. In July 2020, it was reported that 40% of GPs in Northern Ireland were not able to practice since the lockdown began. South Africa, a country with a high prevalence of HIV, has reduced HIV testing by a frightening 46%.

UK’s Office of National Statistics states that over two thirds of Britons have had treatment affected by lockdowns. An April 2020 survey found that one third of Americans reported that they have had a medical or dental appointment cancelled by the provider. A CDC study found that 30% of Americans with a chronic illness had a disruption in their care. 74% of Americans with a rare disease have had a medical appointment cancelled. General practitioners in France are operating at 56% capacity.

Diagnostic tests have been dramatically neglected from lockdowns. A RAND Corporation study discovered that in the US, colonoscopies performed has dropped about 70% and mammograms by 67%. Cervical cancer screening has decreased by 68%, and ovarian cancer testing, by 33%, because of the lockdown. 

Life-saving cancer screening and treatment has even been suspended by lockdown dictators. The British Medical Association estimates that May-June 2020 saw a reduction of 286,000 urgent cancer referrals in England. Early detection of cancer is critical because it greatly increases the chances of survival. For instance, cervical cancer has a 93% 5-year survival rate if detected before it starts to spread, but only 15% at a more advanced stage. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology found that a hospital network in Italy had 38% fewer cancer diagnosis compared to the same period in the past two years. 18,000 people are expected to die from cancer in England over a 12-month period due to lockdown-delayed diagnosis and treatment. 

Children have also suffered as a result of the lockdown on healthcare. In Ireland, there were less than half the usual number of child development checks from January to August of 2020. Many surgical procedures for children are time-sensitive — there is a window in which they must transpire, after which the child will experience serious consequences. Operations such as limb deficiencies, cleft palate, and hip dysplasia, must be promptly performed in children to avoid long-term disability. In Canada’s largest pediatric hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, two thirds of children waiting for surgery have missed their window, double the fraction as before the lockdown.  

The media and government like to deceive the public into believing that shutting down health care was required for hospitals to deal with an influx of COVID patients. This has seldom been the case. With few exceptions, hospitals sit almost empty. The corridors have never been quieter. Healthcare personnel have nothing to do but make TikTok videos. Medical clinics have few patients, leaving doctors bored and frustrated. The unthinkable decision to end healthcare has been purely political. 

What has strained the healthcare system, however, has been the arbitrary suspensions of healthcare workers. Care providers are forced to take unreliable PCR tests which have very high false positive returns for COVID-19. They are forced to be away from work for two weeks after a positive test. They may even be required to have a negative result before returning to work. 

Healthcare workers are even forced to isolate at home if their employer suspects that they have even been in contact with someone who may have been affected with coronavirus. Perfectly healthy doctors, nurses, CT techs, and other staff are prevented from working for no reason. In October 2020, the Independent reported that in England, 27,000 hospital staff were off work at the time due to a positive COVID test or forced isolation.

Equally destructive to health as banning medical care has been the fear-mongering by the government and media. The public has become so terrified of contracting COVID-19 that they have been avoiding the healthcare system as much as possible. Even during a medical emergency, a very large portion of people have refused to seek medical attention due to a drastic overestimation of the severity of COVID-19. 

Visits to medical clinics have fallen even for the clinics that are open. In an April 2020 survey, 15% of Americans reported cancelling a healthcare appointment due to fears of contracting coronavirus. 22% stated that they held off on making a medical appointment for the same reason. The CDC has reported that by July 2020, 41% of US adults have avoided healthcare during the lockdown, including emergency care. 

In April 2020, primary care visits were down up to 60% in the US. A UK study reports that 13% of people needed to see a GP but did not attempt to do so, citing fear of coronavirus or burdening the healthcare system. In a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 48% of respondents said they or a family member had avoided contact with the healthcare system during the pandemic.

With the reduction in clients, many private medical clinics and hospitals have gone out of business, or faced the prospects of bankruptcy. The New York Times reported in May 2020 that half of primary care providers only have the finances to stay open for another four weeks. A coalition representing 260,000 doctors wrote to the secretary of Health and Human Services warning that their industry is facing mass layoffs and bankruptcies. Malaysia is facing a similar situation. GP’s have had their patient loads reduced by over 50% since lockdowns began, and private hospitals experienced a 70-80% reduction in patients. The Malaysian healthcare industry is in danger of financial collapse from lack of business.

Access to emergency care has carried on as normal during lockdowns. Emergency rooms are certainly not packed with COVID cases. However, the hysteria incited by the media has caused such panic that people are afraid to even go to the emergency department. Around the world, emergency admissions have fallen off a cliff. Many reports in the US, UK, and Canada, have determined that emergency departments are operating at half their usual loads.

In the US, Parkview Health has reported a 50% decline in ER visits and notes that the severity of admissions is much higher during the pandemic because of people waiting a long time before going to the hospital. Yale New Haven Health System reports a 40% decline in emergency admissions. Dr. William Jaquis, the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians has stated that ER visits are 40-50% lower across the country. 

Emergency room visits vary in their acuity. However, people are so afraid of contracting coronavirus at a hospital that they avoid going even for severe and life-threatening medical emergencies. Heart attack and stroke admissions have unfortunately been trending closely to minor conditions. 

Cigna, a major American health insurer, found that hospitalization for atrial fibrillation has gone down 35%. McKinsey reports that heart attack admissions fell 50% in the first few weeks of lockdown in England. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported a 48% decline in heart attack hospitalizations in Northern California. A paper on hospital admission at 9 major US hospitals in April 2020 found a 38% reduction in one type of heart attack since lockdowns began.

A paper in The Lancet reported that heart attack admissions dropped by a third across England since the pandemic started. An online community of cardiologists performed a poll on Twitter on heart attack admissions. Almost half of the respondents reported that they are seeing 40-60% less heart attacks in their practice. A similar trend is seen around the world. In Spain, for instance, researchers reported a 40% reduction in emergency procedures for heart attacks.

Stroke admissions have been no different from heart attacks. Dr. Sheth, chief of the neurocritical care and emergency neurology at Yale School of Medicine, estimates that stroke cases have decreased 50-70% in hospitals across the US. Cigna reports that hospitalizations for strokes are down 31%. 

The medical community appears to be unanimous in their position that rates of heart attack and stroke in the community are at least on par with pre-pandemic levels. The lockdown has caused high levels of stress and anxiety, factors known to increase the incidence of these medical emergencies. Doctors believe that people are simply too afraid of coronavirus to seek medical care when they suspect that they are having a stroke or heart attack. They often remind the public through media outlets that the longer people wait to seek help for these conditions, the worse their prognosis.

The lockdown has been especially hard for people in need of counselling or psychiatric treatment. In some areas, like Spain, mental health care completely came to a standstill during lockdown. In Europe, while many countries transitioned to online appointments, there were quite a few that didn’t have that option at all. 

The most wealthy countries have seen a major reduction in mental health care. There were 235,000 fewer referrals for counselling in England between March and August. A study of behavioral health care in the New York metropolitan area found that services had been reduced by 41.2% for people diagnosed with a major mental health disorder. 

While access for mental health care has taken a tumble, demand is greater than ever. Lockdowns have been calamitous for mental health. A CDC survey reported that 41% of Americans now have a mental health issue compared to 20% before the lockdown.

Social distancing has had its worst effects in the developing world, causing widespread poverty and starvation. Healthcare access during lockdown may also have its worst effects in low income countries.

A study of the lockdown’s healthcare impact in slum communities of Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan found significantly reduced access. Published in BMJ Global Health in August 2020, the study found that slum residents in all of the communities observed had reduced access to healthcare. Reasons included: difficulty reaching medical clinics, increased cost of care, and lower ability to afford care due to decreased income. 

The lack of prevention and treatment of communicable disease in poor countries on lockdown is particularly troubling. Tuberculosis is the single biggest killer of all infectious diseases, claiming 1.5 million lives a year. Because of healthcare personnel and resources being reassigned to work on the more popular SARS-CoV-2 spectacle, screening and treatment of TB has suffered greatly. 

About 85% of people with TB survive with a 6-month medication regimen. However, this non-politicized disease has been neglected in lockdown to the point that few people have been able to get diagnosed and properly treated. As a result, the WHO expects 200,000 to 400,000 more TB deaths in 2020 and one million extra TB deaths per year for the following 5 years. Politicians in developing countries have intentionally left millions of people to die of tuberculosis just to make themselves look good to a hysterical public. Who cares about saving lives when you can allocate public resources towards a more trendy health issue that gets you lots of praise?

Malaria prevention has also fallen by the wayside due to social distancing. Programs which disseminate insecticide-treated bednets have basically been halted, putting African and Asian children at risk of contracting this potentially fatal disease. Over 200 million people get malaria every year with most deaths occurring in young children. In 2018, malaria killed 405,000 people. Because of the neglect of malaria prevention programs resulting from social distancing, the WHO estimates that malaria deaths could reach 770,000 annually.

Government’s denial of healthcare is a serious humanitarian offense. There is no justification for it. The only way to explain the situation is that politicians have declared war on their own people. No constitution would allow this behavior. People are entitled to the medical services for which they have paid insurance fees or taxes. Empty clinics and hospitals, bored healthcare personnel, wasted public resources — the ban on healthcare reveals indisputably that the pandemic response has no basis in public health. Hundreds of millions of people are needlessly suffering because of this, many of whom will have their lives tragically cut short, if they have not died from the healthcare ban already.