TIME FOR CHANGE

Sir,

I am not the kind of person who usually makes noise or criticizes government but I am forced to do so when service delivery becomes low and in the end badly affects the lives of the citizens of this country. There have been reports recently about how most of the health centers and hospitals were faced with drug shortages and as has been the case in previous years, the nation was assured that the problem was being solved. The whole country knows that it is not the first time for sick persons to be sent back home because there is no medication.
It has been happening for years and those responsible are always giving us the same excuse that suppliers have not been paid. Imagine diabetic patients being told to go elsewhere to get medication because government hospitals have not been able to get their supplies.

Decline

The truth is that there has been a decline in health services and this impacts directly on the quality of care received by patients. The inability to provide quality care by healthcare practitioners, including emergency medical treatments, makes it look like government does not care about the people in this country. When there is less health services, patients increasingly suffer preventable illnesses associated with morbidity and mortality, including stillbirths, not only because of the lack of essential basic services but also because the situation impacts negatively on the training of healthcare practitioners.

Choice

The patients who find that there is no medication at government hospitals do not have a choice but have to find money to purchase them at private pharmacies. Mind you, some of these patients come from poor backgrounds and do not have the money to buy at pharmacies. Where do you expect them to go? Healthcare practitioners find themselves in a predicament as a result of this violation of patients’ rights to access health care by the health system itself.

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