Healthcare buck must stop at the minister

EDITOR: I’ve been reflecting on the article published in the September 22nd issue entitled “We Must Get Our Priorities Straight”, and have since thought that more should be done or said, at least.

I’ve been wondering; why does it always seem to take some sort of sex or money scandal for politicians to resign from their posts. Just this past week in the US, a Florida congressman resigned as allegations of sexual misconduct with an under age boy developed. {{more}}Why is the voltage from a sex scandal seems to be much more higher than that of any other situation that should cause the same (or higher) jolt of moral and social conviction to the point of forcing a resignation? Why is this so? Take Rumsfeld for instance, several people have been calling for his resignation over an apparent mishandling of the Iraqi war. He has not budged yet. The jolt from a life and death situation doesn’t seem to be strong enough to force a resignation. I am willing to bet that he would have been gone a long time ago had it been for some sort of sexual misconduct or money scandal.

Having said that, I am now convinced that the current situation of our healthcare system will not, on its own, force our health minister to resign. Isn’t our health better than sex and money? How can you afford either of the two if you are not healthy? I guess the answer depends on whom you ask. To me, however, social order places our health at a much higher precedence than sex and money. Therefore, the situation involving our healthcare system should force the minister to resign, now.

Some critics may say that what happens in our country is no different from what happens in other developed countries. Some may even go as far as directly comparing it with that of North America in order to justify our current position, but I consider such attempt at comparison to be ludicrous. I say that the two are not even in the same “book”. At the very minimum, the basic opportunity and availability is at a much higher distinction. Furthermore, why should we even attempt to compare. Should we not always strive for the best regardless, in a prioritized order?

In a country like ours, something is wrong when a person would rather stay home and die than go into one of our health facilities for treatment.

Even if the minister is not directly “cut-opening” patients, it is still his responsibility. Even if he has to go through his own internal red tape to allocate resources to the sector, it is still his responsibility. Regardless of what the situation was before he got there, it is still his responsibility. He must go now. If the coaches of sports teams could take it upon themselves to step down when the team fails, so should Slater. He’s the leader and the coach of our health sector. Time to step down.

By the way, the “colour” of these words is neither yellow, red, nor green.

Bagga