Medical experts at WISH discuss pandemic-proof future healthcare facilities – The Peninsula

Medical experts at WISH discuss pandemic-proof future healthcare facilities – The Peninsula

Doha: A report on ‘Building Better Hospitals for the Future: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, was released at Qatar Foundation’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH 2022), and experts highlighted key findings of the report.

Prof. Didier Houssin, President, AP-HPI, France, and author of the report, spoke about the COVID-19 impact on hospitals during the pandemic.

“The impact of the pandemic on the health of individuals was very clear, and in some cases, there was a severe acceleration in the spread of infection,” he said, adding “it has had a significant impact on the capabilities of healthcare systems and hospitals.”

Prof. Houssin explained the main difficulties hospitals faced.

“Some hospitals were affected with a shortage of healthcare workers, beds in intensive care units, no respirators, oxygen equipment or personal protection, such as face masks, which are very important for doctors and nurses who are directly exposed to the virus. The worst thing that happened was that people died in hospitals without their families being able to visit them.”

Prof. Christine Rouzioux, Professor of Virology at University Paris Descartes, said: “We are not sure what will happen after this pandemic. The virus has no borders, and the story is not over yet, but we all realise