Despite continued strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found that Swiss healthcare has coped well with the added pressure. In addition, other positive tenets of Swiss society like family and education meant that some of the worst consequences of the pandemic were softened.
In the Health at a Glance 2021 paper, Switzerland scored highly in several areas, despite recording a fall in life expectancy due to COVID-19. Every two years, the OECD looks at all 38 countries that make up the bloc and analyses aspects of the health systems in each nation, like doctors, pharmacies, hospitals and care homes, to see how each system compares.
The report found that despite the pandemic, most services in Switzerland continued as usual, albeit delayed. The OECD noted that Switzerland has 100 percent healthcare coverage, mainly due to basic health insurance, and found that 91 percent of those surveyed approved of Swiss healthcare, one of the highest ratings in the list.
During 2020, the psychological consequences of COVID have been “huge”, with cases of depression and anxiety doubling in a year across the world. The report praised Switzerland for keeping the school system open for as long as possible, which the director of the child psychiatric service for Canton Zurich, Susanne Walitza, said had a “very positive” effect on the mental health of children.
While the report praised Switzerland for its quality of care, it did find the country spends 11,3 percent of gross domestic product on the healthcare system, more than the average of 8,8 percent. One of the areas where Switzerland could improve was on its COVID vaccination rollout, where Switzerland has gone from 11th to 23rd in the percentage of fully vaccinated people.