Home Care Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Justice-Oriented Perspective

Vahid  Alipour; Hadi  Hamidi; Aghdas  Souresrafil; Saeed  Bagheri Faradonbeh; Mohammadreza  Sheikhy-Chaman

doi:10.18502/jebhpme.v5i3.7287

Vahid Alipour Department of Health Economics, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Hadi Hamidi Department of English Language, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Aghdas Souresrafil Department of Health Economics, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Saeed Bagheri Faradonbeh Department of Health Economics, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohammadreza Sheikhy-Chaman Department of Health Economics, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jebhpme.v5i3.7287

Keywords: COVID-19, Health economics, Health equity, Home care, Iran

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients with better general conditions are sent to their own homes for self-quarantine due to a lack of resources in the health system, especially the lack of beds and human resources. Improving patient care may force households to inevitably use home care services, which can be examined from the health equity perspective. In the first step, home care services should be expanded by medical universities in all regions of the country, including less developed areas. In the second step, the financial protection of the recipients of these services should be provided through interventions, such as health insurance coverage. In addition, after the COVID-19 pandemic (post-corona period), it is necessary to organize home care services as soon as possible due to the population aging trend. Finally, despite the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, it is better to use the challenges, actions, and lessons learned from this crisis to complete the infrastructure of the health system in various ways.