The novel coronavirus 2019 has every person across the world either on high alert or running amok in panic. Scores of people are stocking disinfectants and all manner of cleaning agents in a bid to keep the virus away.

But, perhaps this fact about the virus should be a wake up call to everyone, more so those that have been taking comfort thinking that their comprehensive medical covers will give them access to the private health facilities they have been used to, should the coronavirus visit them.

It is easy for the decision makers to drag their feet when an outbreak is affecting your everyday person who may not ordinarily interact with the ‘big fish.’ 

Now though, we find ourselves in a situation where whether you are the president of a country or jobless in a little known village, all are at equal risk of contracting the coronavirus. Presidents and prime ministers of first world countries are just as vulnerable as third world countries. The people at the lower socio-economic status might actually find themselves better placed to fight the disease because they have no qualms visiting their nearest public health facility which after all has been their to-go to place.

The culture shock will hit Kenya’s middle class who may have never visited the public facilities nearest to them for any health service. This is the chance to actualise universal health coverage (UHC), something that would benefit everyone on a day-to-day basis and more so at times of serious global pandemics and outbreaks that have everyone at risk.

With UHC coverage a reality, public messaging and sensitisation on the coronavirus would have been done right from the moment it was declared a public health emergency of international concern.

Health promotion and disease prevention is a key cog that moves the universal healthcare wheel. Personnel well trained on the fundamentals of public health would have already been part of the communities they live in, making public messaging and interaction a smooth sail. Everyone would at the very least know where to go when sick. These same personnel would have been instrumental in contact tracing and monitoring of those in isolation, some of the major activities in disease containment and surveillance.

In the event that one needs hospitalisation, health facilities would have proper isolation units and well trained personnel, ready with the personal protective equipment needed. Diagnostic capability would not be a headache when each health facility has a functional laboratory that would demand less in terms of building its diagnostic capability for the outbreak at hand.

If it were critical care, each facility would have at least one critical care bed for every 50-hospital beds. This would not just be a bed, but one with the requisite staff and equipment.

The task then would have been training of staff as the frontline defence in containing and managing the disease outbreak. That would require less funds and time to prep for as opposed to the situation we find ourselves in currently. Our health system as is can handle the mild cases of the coronavirus disease, but should it be called upon to step up when the situation is bad, it may crumble right before our eyes.

Now that the coronavirus is here with us, with our weak health system, we can only make the best of the situations. Every Kenyan should observe hand hygiene and cough etiquette. In case one is sick, self-isolate and visit one of the isolation centres set up by the Ministry of Health at the earliest possible.

Since 97 per cent of persons who have contracted the coronavirus have recovered, the odds are we shall live to tell this tale, and hopefully, to reconstruct our health system to respond to the rich or poor.

- mkorir@standardmedia.co.ke