Covid-19 Implications For The Healthcare System In China

Vanessa Muliawan

Ebenhaezer Amadeus T.P.K.D

Celine Winardy

Alfredo Genesius R.

Kenneth Wilbert

Background

The comprehension of wellbeing has moved over the long run. WHO (World Health

Organization) (2000) in its constitution signed in 1946 expressed that wellbeing is a condition

of physical, mental, and social prosperity and not in light of the shortfall of affliction or

shortcoming. The improvement of computerized wellbeing innovation has empowered

everybody to learn and survey themselves, and take part effectively in the development of

wellbeing advancement. Different social variables influence ailments, like individual conduct,

social conditions, hereditary qualities and science, medical services, and the actual climate.

According to data (2020) given by the WHO, China has done a good job at keeping its

country’s cleanliness and maintaining basic sanitation.

Healthcare in China consists of public and personal medical establishments and

insurance programs. Ninety fifth of the population has a minimum of basic insurance

coverage. Despite this, public insurance usually covers half of the medical prices, with the

proportion lower for serious or chronic diseases. With the "Healthy China 2020" initiative,

China has undertaken an attempt to chop tending prices, requiring insurance to hide seventieth

of prices by the end of 2018. China has experienced a few changes in their healthcare system.

In the past, healthcare was only available for the royals and wealthy families. Over the years,

China has evolved its healthcare system so it is available to people regardless of their

financial status. In 1996, the Chinese government started to reform its healthcare system since
the citizens had complained about the affordability and access to the healthcare system.

Furthermore, the rising cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China in 2003 had

pushed the government to improve the current system to a much more accessible and

affordable healthcare system. However, the country is constantly suggested to focus on

providing basic healthcare in the rural area in order to help the burden of those who are

currently suffering due to healthcare expenses. In addition, the outbreak of COVID-19 had

impacted China in the middle of their healthcare reform.

The majority of people in China had limited knowledge of the coronavirus and the

impact it would bring to the rest of the world. Moreover, it appeared that China had failed to

detect the virus at an early stage resulting in the spread of COVID-19 up until now. According

to an article published on January 21st 2021 by Shuangyi Sun, Zhen Xie, Keting Yu, Bingqian

Jiang, Siwei Zheng, and Xiaoting Pan, China had encountered several problems in their

system at the beginning of the outbreak. Sun, Xie, Yu, Jiang, Zheng, and Pan (2021)

discovered that community hospitals were not able to contain the number of patients since

they were overshadowed by large hospitals in the quality of the doctors, limited ability for

virus testing, and equipment that are outdated. Additionally, the lack of medical resources

used to treat patients compared to the number of cases increasing each day had also affected

the continuous increase of patients. Nonetheless, China's effort to handle the virus had

resulted in the expanding healthcare system with the appearance of internet hospitals to avoid

contact as much as possible and there were high-tech machines to help the healthcare

workers. The internet hospital offers approved remote medical services for consultation,

treatment, diagnosis, and prescriptions through Internet technologies. 42,3% of the nation's

physical hospitals set up Internet clinics to reduce the flood of people in physical clinics at the

beginning of the epidemic.

 Other than providing internet hospitals, more advanced technologies are being pushed

by the government to prevent Covid-19 from spreading. One of them is the use of QR codes

apps to detect Covid-19. QR codes are available for Alipay and Wechat users which are the

most used apps in China. In the initial stage, a survey regarding the user’s travel history and

whether the user had come in contact with an infected person will be conducted. The app will

then track movements and give a color code based on new datas. Aside from QR codes, Damo

Academy, Alibaba Group’s Research institute had developed a more accurate technology

using AI. This system has been proven to detect virus in 20 seconds with 96% accuracy and

have successfully diagnosed 30,000 cases of Covid-19 in China resulting in more time and

resources saved. Not only able to detect Covid-19 at a faster rate, this system also can detect

signs of improvements by looking at the white mass in the lungs of the patients.

The Chinese government is functioning on providing reasonable basic tending to any

residents by 2020. Major cities in China are equipped with hospitals specializing in different

fields and equipped with modern facilities. Most public hospitals in China have a more

premium treatment called V.I.P wards. Some V.I.P wards also provide a english speaking

doctor and nurse for foreigners. The price tag of these V.I.P wards are indeed higher than

other hospital facilities, but are still affordable by western standards. As for China’s health

regulations, it is following the health protocol which the WHO has put forward. The health

protocols consist of social distancing, the constant wearing of masks, washing our hands

before entering a facility, and the avoidance of crowded places. The Chinese government has

done an immaculate job of making its citizens obeying these protocols. China has decreased

the number of Corona cases from 6000 cases per week in February of 2020 to 20 in a 7 day

average as of February of 2021.

 This topic has been studied by numerous experts since the outbreak. One leading study

on the topic was conducted by Talha Burki in 2020. Burki (2020) concluded that China has

been able to control the virus better than most countries have. The United Kingdom, despite

having a population 20 times smaller than that of China, has seen five times as many cases of

COVID-19 and almost ten times as many deaths. Despite becoming the first country to be

infected with COVID-19, China was well-positioned to combat the virus. It has a centralized

mechanism for responding to epidemics. The high mortality rate associated with SARS-CoV

is remembered by most Chinese adults. “The population was very aware of the potential

consequences of a coronavirus outbreak,”Xi Chen said (Yale School of Public Health, New

Haven, Connecticut, USA). “Other nations do not have such recent pandemic memories.”

Ever since the first reported case of Covid-19 in late December of 2019, China was fast to

respond with having a 76 day lockdown around Wuhan. According to a modeling study

co-authored by Chen, China's public health activities between January 29 and February 29

could have avoided 14 million infections and 56 000 deaths. After reading the article, other

countries can learn from what China has done. They need to be fast respondents to said virus.

This isn't to say that China's approach to virus control is universal. But countries can take a

few pointers on what has made China successful.

After the outbreak of the pandemic, China's brilliance and quick thinking have helped

the country better contain the virus. While other countries, such as the US and UK, struggle

with the virus, China has shown the pathway to contain it. The people's discipline in

following the government's health protocols has aided the government's efforts. Despite the

fact that China was reviled by the rest of the world for being the “source” of the virus. World

leaders, including then-US President Donald Trump, referred to the virus as the "China virus."

China has responded immaculately, with a 7-day scale, the number of cases decreased from
6,900 in February 2020 to 20 in February 2021. Which completely annihilate the United

States, which has an average of 52,000 cases per week.

Methods

The qualitative research design will be used in this study. The aim of qualitative research is to

gather and analyze non-numerical data, which can include but is not limited to texts, images,

and audios. It is commonly used to comprehend ideas, thoughts, or interactions related to a

particular phenomenon under investigation. Documentary analysis will be used as a tool. A

documentary analysis is a research tool that would be used to gather evidence and sources

relevant to the subject under investigation.

This study will be completed in July 2021. Research papers, journals, and other scholarly

sources considered important were used in this study.

References

Burki, T. (2020). China’s Successful Control of Covid-19. New Desk, 20(11),

1240-1241.https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30800-8

Sun, S., Xie, Z., Yu, K., Jiang, B., Zheng, S., & Pan, X. (2021). Covid-19 and Healthcare

System in China: Challenges and Progression for A Sustainable Future. Global Health 17, 14.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-021-00665-9

Zhang, X. (2020). Digital Technologies Applied in China to Combat Covid-19. TMNT.

https://tnmt.com/newsletter-snippets/digital-technologies-applied-in-china-to-combat-covid-1

9/