Human resources and patient rights during COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.

Abstract

On February 19, 2020, first cases of COVID-19 positive were reported in Iran. When COVID-19 declared pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, Iran was among the most affected countries (1). Iran was ranked 11th among pandemic-affected countries with more than 328,844 laboratory-confirmed cases as of August 11, 2020 (2). The rapid spread of the pandemic disease and not knowing about COVID19-affected areas necessitated making immediate decisions and adopting appropriate control measures. The burden of the pandemic, added to that of the common diseases, imposed additional pressures on hospitals and healthcare centers, with various consequences such as patient’s rights disregard. COVID19 patients as well as other inpatients during the pandemic deserved their legitimate rights of being treated with the highest possible care and attention. In patient's rights charter (3), various aspects of patient's rights include providing appropriate healthcare service, necessary information, freedom of choice in therapeutic services, and ethical considerations (e.g., privacy and confidentiality). Fulfilling these rights was challenged by shortcomings in hospital capacity, equipment, financial resources, and even necessary knowledge regarding effective treatment. Inadequacy and lack of human resources (4) was a major challenge because healthcare staff count could not be increased to comply with the continuously increasing patient count (4). *Corresponding Author