Open AccessDilemma in the foreign lands during COVID-19: An outlook of expat health care professionals with a take on a social perspective
Author(s) -
Namdeo Prabhu,
Rakhi Issrani
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1875-9270
pISSN - 1051-9815
DOI - 10.3233/wor-203331
Subject(s) - pandemic , dilemma , psychological intervention , contact tracing , quarantine , transmission (telecommunications) , health care , public health , covid-19 , economic growth , public relations , medicine , political science , environmental health , business , development economics , disease , nursing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , economics , pathology , philosophy , epistemology , electrical engineering , engineering
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection a global pandemic due to the fast transmission of this disease worldwide. To prevent and slow the transmission of this contagious illness, the public health officials of many affected countries scrambled to introduce measures aimed at controlling its spread. As a result, unprecedented interventions/measures, including strict contact tracing, quarantine of entire towns/cities, closing of borders and travel restrictions, have been implemented by most of the affected countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to share health care professionals’ perspectives who are experiencing COVID19 firsthand in a foreign land. In addition, the role of the Saudi governance to combat the current situation is also discussed. DISCUSSION: Personal and previous experiences as related to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) by the authors has been compared to the current situation and how it affected our thoughts and management. A review of the evidence-based literature was conducted to investigate the demographics of the region; and to understand the awareness of the various tools that are available and how they were utilized in the present situation of pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Saudi Arabia has been challenged during the pandemic as are other countries.