Ethical aspect of duty of care and resource allocation during COVID-19 pandemic: An Indian overview

Abstract

Ethical practice is always considered to be a safe practice. Pandemic is one situation where the execution of ethical principles becomes a bit difficult as differences of opinion are to be taken into consideration. We have faced dilemmas previously during the AIDS outbreak or Avium Influenza pandemic. Similar ethical dilemmas if not more we are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethical concerns are mainly related to duty of care towards COVID patients, scarce resource allocation, telemedicine service, and COVID death cases. In this article, we will discuss ethical issues in relation to the duty of care and scarce resource allocation. We will also highlight guidelines to minimize ethical dilemmas and the role of the administration to make ethically correct policies as much as possible. This will not only help us to face the current pandemic but also will help to create a root map for making policies if any such pandemic hits the community in future.

Keywords

• covid-19
• duty of care
• ethical dilemma
• pandemic
• resource allocation