Health care workers deserve our steadfast support, not just during a coronavirus pandemic

It is an irony that Hong Kong is now stopping to clap for the health care workers who were harassed during last year’s protests

Attitudes around the world towards medics are not always appreciative: expect attitudes to change when these workers start demanding compensation for Covid-19 oversight

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Hongkongers clap for health care workers in Mong Kok amid the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Hong Kong Community Foundation

Darren Mann is a surgeon with clinical ballistics experience, based in Hong Kong.

Published: 2:30pm, 2 May 2020Updated: 8:34pm, 2 May 2020

There has been an international outpouring of public tributes to health care workers who have made selfless sacrifices during the Covid-19 pandemic. So why is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, choosing this moment to tweet: “Health care is #NotATarget. … Attacks on health care are attacks on humanity …”?

The “Clap for Carers” ritual draws people to windows, balconies or sometimes into the streets in often emotional displays of appreciation. Weekly. Worldwide. And yet Tedros reminds us that health care personnel are not always regarded so highly by the communities they serve.

The uncomfortable truth is that in many countries, a contradictory and conflicted relationship exists with health care workers: they are applauded when it is convenient, but marginalised, even persecuted, when it is not.

There are many examples of ambivalence towards medical personnel around the world. Closer to home, the disturbing mistreatment of emergency medical workers during the recent protests in Hong Kong has been highlighted in a letter by UN human rights experts.