Link to Article: “Bolivian doctors demand lockdown as virus overwhelms hospitals”
Bolivia has recently been experiencing a surge of new COVID-19 cases, overwhelming doctors and hospitals to their breaking point. Statistics have begun to show that about one healthcare provider dies of the virus each day in the nation, and they want to see an end to it. Because of this, hospitals have even threatened to stop admitting patients if the government doesn’t step in to help.
Ricardo Landivar, a director of a Bolivian medical school stated, “… We are going to have patients dying in the streets without being able to be treated by medical staff.”
The Bolivian president, Luis Arce, is pushing back on a potential lockdown. The nation’s economy is already in poor shape, causing reluctance in shutting down the country once again. Instead, the government has opted to begin pushing out the Sputnik V vaccine, Russia’s quickly-developed COVID vaccine.
Bolivia isn’t the only country that has seen healthcare workers struggle greatly with the overwhelming pandemic. In Peru, doctors have begun going on hunger strikes, and in Kenya, they have gone on strike and protests in order to see a change in their working conditions. This crisis places the Bolivian government in a difficult position. On one hand, they lock down the country, causing further damage to their already-damaged economy. On the other hand, they found to keep the country and economy open, but risk the continuation of new COVID cases. With doctors having threatened to stop treatments for patients, it is likely that the government will feel pressured, and eventually forced, to implement a new lockdown, which will evidently hurt the economy. If not, sick citizens may not find treatment. In the long run, a lockdown may be the best option, as it is the only way to ease the pandemic away. The distribution of the new vaccine will also have a great impact in halting new cases and protecting the lives of healthcare workers.
This issue is almost like the “collective goods” problem, but on a national level. Bolivia must sacrifice the health of its economy to support the wellbeing of its healthcare system and sick citizens, or vice versa. The main actor in this situation is the Bolivian president, who acts as the head of state and head of government in the nation. The decision on whether or not to lock down the country will come down to him, based on the governmental framework of the nation.