The Royal Australasian College of Physicians has welcomed the Australian government’s announcement of an inquiry into long COVID.
The new inquiry by the House Health Committee will investigate the health, social, educational, and economic impacts of long COVID and repeated COVID infections, following a referral on 1 September 2022 by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler.
The RACP said that specialist physicians and paediatricians welcomed the Federal Government’s decision and were pleased to see that the Inquiry will be chaired by paediatrician and member for Macarthur, Dr Mike Freelander FRACP.
Dr Freelander trained as a paediatrician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Camperdown after completing his residency at the Royal North Shore Hospital and has been a paediatrician in Campbelltown for 37 years.
“The Committee recognises that both long COVID and repeated COVID infections are emerging as significant health challenges for Australia,” Dr Freelander said.
“Currently we have a limited understanding of these issues, and it is hoped that this inquiry will build a picture of the health, social, educational, and economic impacts long COVID and repeated COVID infections are having on individuals, their families and the broader community, which can be used to inform public policy recommendations.
“The Committee wants to draw upon the experience and insights of healthcare service providers supporting patients with long COVID and/or repeated COVID infections, to better understand the impacts on Australia’s overall health system.”
As of 2 September 2022, there have been a total of 10,053,456 cases in Australia since the start of the pandemic and it is estimated that about 5% of all people who have been infected will develop long COVID.
President Dr Jacqueline Small explained that the RACP and its members were concerned about the impact of long COVID and pointed out that the consequences of repeated COVID infection were still unknown.
“There could be as many as 500,000 Australians living with long COVID and yet we still don’t have all the answers that we need to properly diagnose and treat it,” Dr Small said.
“A national inquiry is a great place to start looking at the impacts of long COVID and the need to improve resources for health practitioners. Health practitioners need increased support to be able to identify and treat long COVID.”
With Murdoch University’s desktop clinical nuclear magnetic resonance (NRM) technology for GPs (which can detect vital, long-term COVID blood markers) still in development, there is currently no market-ready test for long COVID, which makes diagnosis difficult.
“[And] once diagnosed, the pathway to recovery is still unclear and there is an urgent need for research into long COVID and its impacts,” Dr Small said.
“For some doctors, managing patients with long COVID can feel like putting together the puzzle pieces without always having the full picture.”
“The impact on health care workers should also be considered by the inquiry,” she added.
“Health professionals will be among those diagnosed with long covid, and it’s critically important that they are supported to access care and return to work – our health system relies on a healthy workforce.”
The Committee will also consider how long COVID and/or repeated COVID infections may be impacting groups that face a greater risk of illness due to factors such as age, existing health conditions, disability and background.
Submissions from interested individuals and organisations are invited by 18 November 2022. The preferred method of receiving submissions is by electronic format lodged online using a My Privacy Parliament account.
Further information about the Committee’s inquiry, including the full terms of reference and details on how to lodge a submission are available at the Committee’s website.