A Health System That Defies Logic
Editor | Monday November 19, 2007 00:00
The high number of complaints about service delivery in the health sector is alarming. No wonder in a country where health services are provided by government for free, a high number of people are resorting to medical aid and private clinics and hospitals. It is clear no serious-minded person would want to put his or her live in the hands of government nurses or doctors. Those who can afford prefer to visit private health facilities where the service is much better.
The fact that the majority of people who have the means continue to run to private hospitals and clinics should be seen as a shame to the public health service. It is the responsibility of the minister in charge to ensure that government health facilities deliver services that truly reflect the billions spent to purchase world class facilities, buildings, and personnel.
It is known that many people think that government health facilities are death chambers and it is time these perceptions are taken seriously. Just as there have been commissions on the poor performances of national teams, the education system, and agriculture, government should put the nation's health first and ensure that the public receives medical attention worth the money spent in the sector. Newspapers are awash with testimonies from victims of poor public health services. They narrate how they lost their loved ones, or how a relative's operation went wrong and nothing was done about it until the poor victim died.
The Health Minister, Professor Sheila Tlou was supposed to be the ideal person to turn around the Botswana health sector because he is one of the country's top medical brains. With free services in public health facilities, Batswana could be saving a lot in medical bills if the system runs properly and efficiently. The huge amounts of money spent on private health facilities and medical aid are a straightforward vote of no confidence on the public health system.
What is surprising though is the fact that no minister has owned up, or at least alluded to this national problem. It is as if this problem only exists in the imagination of the storytellers.
With the majority of Batswana living below the poverty datum line, one could only imagine how huge the number of victims of poor service delivery at public health facilities is.