Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Never forget the lessons learnt from pandemic

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Yousuf
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At some point of time during the COVID-19 pandemic, did any of us ask what would happen if he was infected and had serious complications after infection with the virus necessitating hospitalisation? Certainly, your greatest concern here would be for your family and your children. However, you may make sure of their safety during the period of your illness by having someone from your family or any other trusted person to take care for them.


Once you are hospitalised, you worry about who will pay the bill, who will meet the needs of your family members during your absence. Can I hope the doctors will take maximum measures and put me on a ventilator if needed without delay? Will there be a time when my family may be required to make decisions about my health or even my death? Perhaps here you realise that you have failed in the simplest planning to prepare your son, daughter, or person entrusted with it for the responsibilities that you will face if you fall ill or go away.


Interestingly, the year 2020 has shown us all the value of being prepared. In the early days of the pandemic, people developed fear and anxiety, when people filled their homes with uncertainty of the lockdown measures that we lived through. In fact, planning for uncertainty is undoubtedly a better strategy and it is probably the greatest gift you can give to your family.


When you sit down to imagine about a serious health crisis and the instructions that you want to provide to your responsible son or daughter for example, will it be frustrating in your opinion? I believe it is an opportunity to think and plan about your life, perhaps the life of your family. You think about your true worth and look deeply into your future, ageing gracefully and also about what makes life worth living.


If you imagine with me, you might take your time to prepare a plan for your children or your family. Your mind might say you have given instructions for making healthy decisions in the future. I think the best way to do this is to express my opinions about what I value in life, so that my children could follow them, because the day may come when they will find it difficult to make decisions on life.


Therefore, with regard to the present-day challenges, I encourage you to seize the opportunity as we have learned in 2020, by choosing a healthy course of life, beneficial for your family. It is important to enable children, for example, to build their resilience and manage their stress.


Introspection will help you build on the lessons you have learned and you may even discover some hidden positive habits that you did not realise you started with. It is really nice to build plans and prepare for what is coming. Perhaps the most beautiful thing here is to think about the lessons of the past year — developing good habits like sporting, strengthening friendships through social media platforms and learning to cook healthy meals or making ourselves responsible for taking care of others.


And now, with the availability of vaccines an end to the pandemic is on the horizon. But you should not abandon these changes, instead try to build on them and even create plans that were healthy and social for your family and yourself, besides adding a moment of reflection at the end of each day as well. During this time, your family can think about the day and pave the way for a better tomorrow.


Dr Yousuf Ali al Mulla, MD, Ministry of Health, is a medical innovator and educator. For any queries regarding the content of the column he can be contacted at: dryusufalmulla@gmail.com


 


Dr Yousuf Ali al Mulla


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