Celebrating healthcare workers should be routine, not an ad hoc reaction
What you need to know:
- Celebrating healthcare workers should be recognised even more.
Probably, you or your family members has had an interaction with healthcare workers at some moment. Undoubtedly, their input during and after that interaction meant a lot not only to you but also to your family.
This paints a clear picture on why celebrating and honouring healthcare workers should not be a one-day event. Now more than ever, healthcare workers ought to be celebrated every day.
Every year, we commemorate many health days. But the move by the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Council of Nurses (ICN) to designate 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife indicated a need for a continuous recognition of their roles.
Coincidentally, hardly did the WHO know of the attack from the novel coronavirus that has thrust healthcare workers to the frontline. But they have been vital way back before Covid-19.
Celebrating healthcare workers should be recognised even more. The need to intensify these efforts by supporting healthcare workers in ways like amplifying their demand messages to the governments is important.
In the recent past, we have had health associations like Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK) and Kenya Union of Clinical Officers airing views, meaning there is a lot more to be done.
We should nurture a culture where the healthcare profession is noble and inspirational.
Ronald Koskei, Nakuru
