Influenza pandemic and the duties of healthcare professionals

Abstract

Preparing for an influenza pandemic presents significant scientific and administrative challenges. Governments can learn from measures implemented during past infectious disease epidemics and pandemics, and organise the nation's infrastructure and resources, particularly human resources, for efficient and effective mobilisation for such future events. This should include both the biomedical and ethical dimensions. In this paper, we discuss a critical ethical issue that will arise in preparation for and in response to an influenza pandemic, namely, the role and duties of healthcare workers. It is the aim of this paper to highlight the basis and scope of healthcare workers' duty of care during a pandemic.