Despite Nicola Sturgeon’s best attempts, Scotland is emerging (very) slowly but surely out of the restrictions of the pandemic and into the realm of normality. However, the dangers of the pandemic are far from gone, with the threat of a wave of long-covid crippling our National Health Services, and Humza Yousaf’s apparent blindness to the problem. The SNP’s inability to act proactively to prevent problems facing Scotland illustrates the reasons why a vote for the Conservative Party is vital to making Scotland stronger.
We are seeing the numbers of people suffering from the long-term effects of having had Covid-19, known as ‘long covid’ gradually climb, as over 1.7 million people in the UK appear to be affected, which includes (at least) 132,000 people in Scotland. These people are suffering from symptoms such as chest pain, memory loss, joint pain and heart palpitations, all of which would significantly alter the quality of life for those affected.
We know now that people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds are disproportionately likely to be infected with Covid-19, due to socio-economic factors such as employment types and vaccine hesitancy. These factors also impact the BAME community’s likelihood of falling seriously ill to Covid-19, with data from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre showing that 34% of patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit with confirmed cases of coronavirus were from a BAME background. With a lack of in-depth statistics and reports, we are unable to accurately report on the number of BAME individuals who have fallen victim to long covid, but in considering the above statistics, we can assume that it is highly likely that the BAME community will be disproportionately impacted by this new challenge.
Speaking to the Sunday Post, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, Scottish Conservative MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said:
“Long Covid is a ticking timebomb in our NHS and, as a GP, I’m seeing more and more patients presenting with it. Because it’s such a debilitating and long-lasting condition we risk having a generation of patients increasingly dependent on the NHS at a time when it is already beyond full capacity. For months, the Scottish Conservatives have been calling for a network of Long Covid clinics to be established across Scotland to take the pressure off other areas of our over-stretched NHS.”
Dr Sandesh Gulhane has brought up the issue of long covid with Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf, on an extremely regular basis for the past year, yet the SNP government has done very little to tackle this growing problem. The Scottish Conservative Party has offered advice and solutions to the Scottish Government, developed by listening to GPs and health professionals across the country, in order to tackle this crisis head-on. This advice has been disregarded and ignored because the SNP would rather play party politics and see patients continue to suffer rather than listen to the advice of health professionals. Humza Yousaf and the SNP need to wake up and start listening to the alarms. It’s time for the SNP to start acting like a party in government or move aside for a party that will.