The COVID-19 epidemic has shown the great importance of sectors like health, education and social policy, which were devastated in the previous period as a result of mistaken policies. Allocating funding for them should be understood and conceived as an investment in the future
The new government must place the greatest emphasis on the economy. It would simultaneously prove disastrous if the emphasis on the economy is not balanced with the implementation of measures in other areas and fails to take into account the general situation in society. It would be disastrous to have economic logic that doesn’t consider the consequences of the economic and financial crisis, the aging of the population and the emigrations of young people. In that sense, it is essential that investments in the economy take into account the situation in the areas of health, education and social policy in general. Costs for the latter can and should be conceived in such a way that they have the character of an investment. We have seen the significance of all of them during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Healthcare will certainly be an area that is emphasised due to the current situation and expectations of the development of the situation. However, healthcare was in an unenviable situation even without this epidemic. It has been devastated in various ways over the years, with the direct or indirect impact of health policy. Unclear relations between the public and private health sectors, long waiting lists for diagnostics and treatment, bans on hiring in the public sector, departures abroad of doctors and nurses – these are just some indicators of the problems confronting the healthcare sector.
It would be disastrous to have economic logic that doesn’t consider the consequences of the economic and financial crisis, the aging of the population and the emigrations of young people
The current epidemic has exposed those problems to the very core, but it did not create them. The protraction of the health crisis can be expected even after the end of the epidemic. It will then be time to “pay up” for treating all those illnesses that were postponed during the epidemic. Education will also be in focus as a result of the epidemic, although this sector is also facing a number of crises that are unrelated to the epidemic. Their indicators range from the poor achievements of Serbian school pupils on PISA tests to peer-to-peer violence.
Social protection, which should represent one of the automatic stabilisers of the poor economic situation, is facing demands for a reduction in already modest resources. I can no longer count the situations in which people cite domestic partner violence, poor treatment of children and the elderly, inadequate protection mechanisms for persons deprived of the ability to work etc. Finally, all types of migration – emigrations of young people, immigrations and transits of irregular migrants – and a lack of integration measures will also intensify after the opening of borders, which requires the State to have a dedicated approach.
It is important for the state to approach all these areas proactively. It is important for measures in different areas to be implemented in a coordinated manner and with the same common goals, in order to enhance their impact. It is important to hear the voices of citizens, who are the users of these systems.
