How are healthcare workers doing in the Gulf amid Covid-19?

Welcome back to That Expat Life, a bi-weekly newsletter that highlights the latest news, trends and conversations that touch the lives of expats in the Gulf. If you like what you’re reading, make sure to subscribe using the button above. Would love to hear your feedback, along with what you want to read about in the next newsletter using #ThatExpatLife in the comments below.

At the beginning of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) named 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife to celebrate the two-hundredth birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. It announced that the world needs nine million more nurses if it is to achieve enough health coverage by 2030.

No one knew that a couple of months later, in March 2020, half the world will be on a lockdown, attacked by a global pandemic that has now infected more than one million people globally. Nurses, doctors, ambulance technicians, lab assistants, researchers and all healthcare workers are stretched thin fighting the big fight, as people hunker down in their homes, cheering and clapping for them from balconies across the world, and across some Gulf countries right with the start of an overnight curfew.

The GCC depends on expat workers in its healthcare sector. 78% of the healthcare workforce in Saudi Arabia and 85% of UAE’s are expats, the highest in the GCC according to a 2017 study. 

During these tough times, they go to work everyday to be on the frontline of the fight against the pandemic, receive undiagnosed patients all day, nurse the sick and protect themselves and their families in times where traveling to their home countries is no longer an option.

I asked members working in healthcare in the Gulf how are they doing, and what are their biggest challenges right now both physically, and mentally.

“The biggest and main challenge I am facing right now is that we are vulnerable everyday as we come to work, knowing that we are exposing ourselves to the risk and going home each and every day praying that we are not carrying the virus to our family,” says Allyn Lyll Amo from Qatar.

“When you hear there's a suspected case coming you want to hide…

but it's impossible, no one else will do your job, the most stressful time was when one of my colleagues got isolated because he/she got in touch with a positive case. The problem is you can't just know if you have it or not,” says Mouhanad Adam.

“Being in a Corona designated hospital is such a challenge, the good thing of this crisis is the spirit of the team to fight this pandemic and the extreme effort which is exerted by all staff here,” says Dr. Ahmed Newera, the head of patient safety department in Saudi. “The main challenges are to sustain the work, keep the staff safe from getting infection, maintain the needed supplies, psychosocial support to the frontline heroes, and always to be prepared for the worst.”

“Mentally, I’m very optimistic that the world will be a much better place after we get through this pandemic,

Says Jalal Al-Alwan from Saudi. “The habit of washing hands that has historically been hard to implement even in hospitals will becomes the normal practice after COVID-19. The human nature of being reluctant to change will soon change as different people & businesses have been remarkably quick to adopt or call for practices that they might once have considered impractical, including working from home, conference-calling to accommodate people with disabilities, proper sick leave, and flexible working hours.”

In solidarity

 As people cheer for healthcare staff from balconies, businesses across the Gulf are offering kind gestures to help nurses and doctors during the day.

• Some restaurants and cafes are offering free foods to support medical staff.
• A supermarket has dedicated special checkout counters for healthcare staff.
• Another supermarket offers fruits and vegetables for free.
• A bridal boutique is giving away free wedding gowns to nurses and doctors, some of whom had to postpone weddings because of the current situation.
• UAE fuel delivery service, Cafu is delivering free fuel for ambulances for two weeks.
• A hotel is offering medics a free stay in Dubai.

Find out more about community gestures here.

LinkedIn is also committed to helping hospitals and essential services fill critical roles at this time, find out more here, also find out who’s hiring in healthcare in UAE right now.

Are you a healthcare provider working on the frontline in the COVID-19 fight? Are you taking a part in an initiative supporting medics? Share your thoughts in the comments below using #ThatExpatLife.