Not everything is going well with Europe’s healthcare system. Even the developed countries of Western Europe have no respite. In Britain, around 65 lakh people are on a waiting-list for treatment, this number is 50% more than that of 2019. On the other hand, in Spain, patients are waiting for as long as 123 days for a surgery, which is a record-high in 18 years.
As per experts, a major reason for such a backlog is the COVID-19 pandemic as the healthcare system of Europe had faced immense pressure during the pandemic. As per the research of Imperial College of London, released this week, the condition is such that people are giving bribes to doctors and nurses in order to receive treatments.
According to the research, no other patient apart from those suffering from COVID-19 were admitted to the hospitals and now, after the COVID-19 period has almost ended fully, patients are reaching the hospitals in large numbers. There is still a lack of around 5 lakh doctors in Europe and of more than 10 lakh healthcare workers. In many countries of Europe, patients are not receiving the due health treatments because of this.
According to the European Cancer Organization, around 10 crore cancer screening tests were not done in Europe. As stated by Britain’s Dr. Mark Lawler, European doctors will now have to work with their capacity reaching 130%, due to the backlog created after the pandemic.
As far as mental healthcare is concerned, the situation is no better. As per this year’s report of the European Medical Council, every 4 in 10 people in Europe are suffering from depression and due to a lack of doctors, even patients suffering from depression are not being able to make appointments. In France, depression patients are waiting for an appointment for as long as 60 days.
To make the situation better, many countries in Europe have spent around 24 lakh crore rupees. Germany spent Rs. 8 lakh crores, France, 5 lakh crores, and Italy, around 4 lakh crores. For the health sector of Eastern Europe, the EU has allocated money from its own budget.
As per the EU, the highest per-person expenditure on healthcare is made in Switzerland, which is 7.73 lakh rupees. Norway comes on the second spot with the government spending 6.40 lakhs on each person.
