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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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Widening the gap
- Laxmi Vilas Ghimire (13 August 2004)
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HEALTH SCARE SYSTEM.
- BM Hegde (17 August 2004)
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Donor Friendly Plans
- Matiram Pun (17 August 2004)
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Laxmi Vilas Ghimire, medical student TUTH, Kathmandu
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Today the world is inhabited by more of poor than the rich people.Despite this it is well known that most of the resources are used only by the richer world. The help that are given to the developing and the poorer countries in reality are only in the paper or too little to do any help; just to call it help. But in the name of help these have been exploiting the third world since long ago.These days, still they are looking for the other resources. Many of the poor countries have been victims of the everyday international politics and pressure. They are forced to follow them for whatever they say. Being the boss in economy they have made the economy of the poor countries dependent on them. As the health is totally dependent on the economic condition of any country they are bound to suffer much of it. In the name of improving the health status of poor different organisation they have intruded most of the poor countries of the world. They say that they are there to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor, to alleviate poverty and to improve the health status of the countries but in reality it is totally opposite. The poorer countries are still becoming poorer, their health status in comparison to the developed counteries is still going down. Then, where has the amount that is given for health gone? The different programmes that have been made to help the poor is indeed helping them instead. The money that should go to the poor is not going to the targeted group. Till now it has been seen that political instability in these poor countries have become a good opportunity for others to come and exploit in the name of help. If the developed countires and organisation aren't doing for real help like the one that exists today the gap in the health condition that exists today would still widen. This would create more problems than that is today. One can stave off hunger for days but health is very sensitive matter which none can tolerate.The condition might be still grave . To prevent the failure that seems almost impossible to stop, let us not give up our hope. It won't to too late to do anything good, if it is done for the good of majority.The prestigious and active organisation like WHO(World Health Organisation) sould be more involved in reducing the gap that exist today. WHO should take the lead and it should decide to to give opportunity to the organisation that really want to help the poor and the needy. Let the national boundaries not obstruct the path to lessen the gap in health that exists today. Competing interests: None declared |
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BM Hegde, Retd. Vice Chancellor Mangalore-575004, India.
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Dear Editor, Congratulations on your first editorial. You have hit the nail on the head. The present medical scenario is not altruistic at all. The "inverse care law" applies here as well, as in any other field of monetary economy. The Mathew Law is operating: " He who hath shall be given." Profit is the sole motto everywhere. Who will benefit by practising the kind of philosophy you espouse in your editorial? Certainly not the pharmaceutical and technology giants! Who then will fund all the activities? Most governments have no financial strength to give free medical help to all its citizens! The poorer countries have no health care at all, even if they have expensive medical care system for the minority of the population. In addition, the present medical advertisements in the media scare the life out of the common man! Most of the aid given to the poorer nations since the Second World War, by the richer nations, has been by way of arms and ammunition and very little of it was used for other humanitarian purposes. What little was avialable for health care went for drugs and technology and not for health needs like clean water, safe food, clean air and a roof on the top, not to mention the other vital preventive aspects. Quiet diplomacy or otherwise, the world could change only when man changes for the better. Man, whether in a palace or a pad; Castle or cottage is governed by the same emotions and passions. Shakespeare was dead right there. Rich man's proclivity for comfort and greed would eventually rob the poor of what little they have. Medical humanism is the need of the hour. The screening industry is another dangerous business that threatens even the richer countries. Not leaving the "well" alone is a curse of modern medicine, which predicts the unpredictable future of man. The divine interventionalists have it good these days. In the midst of this lucrative business, health of the public in general, leave alone the poorer public, does not seem to be the concern of the medical establishment. Many areas of public health are surely outside the purview of doctors and hospitals. Many a time the medical establishment itself could damage human health further, as shown by Barbara Starfield in her commentary in the JAMA. Yours ever, bmhegde Reference: Starfield B. Is the US health care the best in the world? JAMA 2000; 284: 483-485. Competing interests: None declared |
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Matiram Pun, Medical Student Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal
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Many of the educated people from the developing countries have definitely heard of the Millennium Development Goals. It has been the challenge as well as the opportunity for them. Challenge in the sense that many of these are not their primary problems and others are hard to implement due to their own problems. The opportunity is, of course, there because they are getting the foreign aid and some of their problems can be solved. Nepal has just launched her tenth Five Year Plan and the Millennium Development Goals has been its one of the chief components to be achieved .I was also there in the pre-draft meeting of this Plan when they were discussing among the youths from the different universities of Nepal. There were so many components in the draft but my concern was about the health of Nepal. The HIV/AIDS was the top priority in the list of the health problems of Nepal. It is ,of course, the problem for Nepal but not the Number One . Why ? The message is loud and clear . Thousands of people die every year due to diarrhea ,Cholera , Typhoid ,Malaria , Japanese Encephalitis and so may communicable diseases that can be prevented. But our focus is on the global hot cake problem HIV/AIDS. Everybody knows, this is simply a Donor Friendly Plan ! When I discussed about the Country’s health condition and relevant priorities, the former member of the Planning Commission tried hard to convince his dogma. The poor countries cannot address their problems as per their wit and wish. The rich countries have funded and directed the plan and policy accordingly .So the poor get poorer and rich get richer day by day. Unless and until the developing world cannot work independently upon their problems, the vicious circle will continue to move. The developing world should come out of their colonized mind that everything developed world does is correct. The plan and policy ,the priority and vision should be the water and soil suitable.Otherwise not only the Millennium Development Goal but also other many goals that will be formulated in the future will continue to land in fiasco. Matiram Pun ,Kathmandu Competing interests: None declared |
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