MAKING A CHOICE TO DIE

HEALTH Minister Lizzie Nkosi should be advised to reengineer her communication strategy because, judging from the statement she made in respect to the public’s not so surprising reaction on the airlifting of the COVID-19 afflicted Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini to South Africa for treatment, it has the potential to inflame an already volatile environment occasioned by government’s continued neglect and total disregard for the needs of people. 

In her response to the people’s outcry over, and in defence of the transfer of the PM to a South African health facility, Minister Nkosi was simplistic when she said it was every individual’s right to choose where they wanted to be treated should they be indisposed by illness. In other words if one did not make such a choice they are to blame if they die. Such a statement, being made in light of a dysfunctional healthcare system, owing to decades of neglect coupled to the 122, and counting, emaSwati who have succumbed to COVID-19, is incendiary and, therefore, very dangerous. 

Sensitive

Minister Nkosi, indeed government, ought to be sensitive to the families and relatives of the 122, and counting, emaSwati who have perished from COVID-19 since its outbreak earlier in the year. The deceased did not choose to die and become statistics of the pandemic simply because it was their choice to be admitted to and treated in the facilities in which they eventually lost their lives, if Minister Nkosi’s narrative carried the day. The deceased and their families did not enjoy the luxury that is available to the PM and everybody else in his station, that of choosing a health facility abroad in which they want to be treated. Although they would have loved to be in a position where they could choose where they wanted to be treated but could not exercise this choice most probably because of being indigent given the reality that a majority of emaSwati are prisoners to grinding poverty, a socio-economic situation that has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Choices

Why, it was easy for the PM and his family to exercise the choices Minister Nkosi is talking about on where he should be treated because he is economically well heeled and, besides, it is not them but the taxpayer who will foot the bill at the end of the day. This luxury is not readily available to the majority of emaSwati who routinely have to figure out from where the next decent meal will come from. 

As I see it, it is not as if Minister Nkosi and government are not aware of the plight of the majority of emaSwati and the reality that they are hardly in a position to make choices about where they want to be treated when sick. From the context of Minister Nkosi’s explanation, death was not their choice but social and economic circumstances were the determinant factors while government’s attention was fixated elsewhere, on matters of how to further widen the huge divide between the haves and have nots with the so-called realignment of salaries of those serving in public and political positions in emabandla advisory bodies, boards, etc, as well as purchasing top range Landcruiser Prados for ministers. That happening even after these groups of elites had also benefitted from the hard fought three per cent cost-of-living adjustment negotiated by public sector associations, it is no wonder the nation’s healthcare is bleeding.

Ironic

Ironic as it also is poignant was that the PM’s transfer to South Africa coincided with nurses, tired of perennial street protests that have not borne any positive outcomes, taking government to court over shortages of drugs and personal protective equipment in the country’s health facilities that is negatively impacting their conditions of service. Without going into the merits of the case, what is amazing is the fact that government is aggressively defending this matter. One would have thought government, if it was on the side of the people, would ameliorate what has become a perennial inconvenience to healthcare workers – not to speak of emaSwati – by proposing a diplomatic solution to this otherwise embarrassing problem. 

Perhaps, given the state of the nation’s healthcare system and generally poor service delivery, it is germane to invoke the words of John Adams, the second president of the United States 1797 – 1801 when he said: “Government is instituted for the common good: For the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; And not for the profit, honour or private interest of any man, family or class of men.”           

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