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Crisis as opportunity: how COVID ‐19 can reshape the Australian health system
Author(s) -
Blecher Gabriel Elan,
Blashki Grant A,
Judkins Simon
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja2.50730
Subject(s) - covid-19 , virology , business , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak , disease , pathology
The year 2020 so far has been consumed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic and its devastating effect on health care systems worldwide. The Australian health system has yet to be truly tested by the pandemic but the prudent public health response has saved lives, protected health care capacity and continues to provide care to the most vulnerable Australians. No health system is perfect and, although Australia’s has some wonderful attributes that make it the envy of many countries, it faces a number of important challenges. This article explores what might be the impact of the COVID19 crisis on reforming our health system for the long term, and we argue that ultimately positive reforms can occur.