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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/08/weak-political-leadership-putting-australians-at-risk-of-long-covid-unknowns-ama-says>
"The Australian Medical Association has blasted “weak political leadership” in
the current response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying governments should
reconsider mask mandates to address a feared rise in long Covid cases.
The peak doctor’s body has called for more funding into research and treatment
of the long-term lingering symptoms of Covid, claiming the nation’s health
system is not equipped to manage chronic conditions on a large scale. One
expert warned 1 million Australians could experience long Covid by 2023.
“It is ambitious to make predictive statements of the specific impact of long
Covid and further repeat infections on the health system as we do not yet know
the scale of long Covid infections,” the AMA said in a submission to a federal
parliament inquiry into the issue.
“However, we know that right now our health system is not prepared and is
failing to deliver the level of care that Australians expect.”
The federal parliament’s health committee is investigating long Covid. In an
issues paper released this week, the committee said that while Australia
doesn’t have an accepted definition of the condition, it was considered as
“ongoing symptoms more than three months after a confirmed Covid infection”.
The inquiry suggested the government needs to collect better data to get an
accurate picture of how widespread the problem is – a call backed in by
submissions from groups including the Stroke Foundation, the specialist Long
Covid Clinic at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, the Asthma Foundation and
UNSW’s Kirby Institute.
People have complained to the committee about impacts on their capacity to
work, difficulty cooking or caring for children, and social isolation due to
long-term symptoms. The paper warned Australia “may not have seen the full
scope of the after-effects of this condition.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
