Are we prepared? Lessons from Covid-19 and OMAG position paper on epidemic preparedness

J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 May 31;9(5):2161-2166. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_384_20. eCollection 2020 May.

Abstract

Covid-19 has once again brought into focus our limited preparedness to deal with epidemics. Most nations, across the globe, have responded with a resolve to come stronger out of this crisis and leaderships across the world have shown great commitment to protecting its people from Covid-19. Covid-19 has also taught us a few things for the future. One such learning has been that a strong shift in focus towards non-communicable diseases driving health infrastructure across the globe for the last few decades has come at neglect of communicable diseases. In that sense, therefore, the current pandemic has been a wake-up call. Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG), an umbrella organization of professional associations gathered a group of health experts to develop a policy document on epidemic preparedness to limit the influence of epidemics like Covid-19.

Keywords: Covid-19; OMAG; epidemic; lessons; position paper.