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Conditions in our hospitals, clinics pathetic
2006-10-15 09:59:54
By Peter Msungu
It is no secret that conditions in some public hospitals, health centres and or clinics in the country, are so pathetic that it pains when you get to see them.
Some lucky hospitals have been blessed to have modern buildings but very minimal services are being provided due to lack of essential drugs, qualified personnel and many a time lack of sympathy and love for the sick on the side of health officials.
If you are a frequent visitor to any hospital near your home, you must have been greatly taken aback at the long and unending queues of patients waiting to be attended by a single doctor or medical personnel in the name of a medical assistant or nurse.
Many stand in the queue for hours before they can be attended. Women with babies on their backs cannot tolerate such tortures and as a result they always walk back home without getting any treatment, and what follows is death from very preventable diseases.
Many of us are aware of reported cases of people who have died at some hospitals while they were waiting to be attended. They died because treatment was delayed, just like the famous saying, justice delayed, is justice denied.
When treatment is delayed, it is professional neglegence and this must be avoided as much as possible, if our hospitals and clinics are to earn a good name.
Private hospitals and clinics have of late become very famous on account of their exemplary service they offer to the needy and the sick. They provide prompt medical treatment, of course at exobitant prices which are not affordable by the many poor people of this country.
If we were talking of crops, we could say that private hospitals and clinics are now the alternative to public hospitals. But again, just how many private clinics do we have, very few to say the least.
Which means people will continue using public hospitals for a long time to come, supplemented by the few existing clinics and other medical institutions that will be established in the country.
The country needs more hospitals and clinics equipped with all the required modern facilities so that the nation boasts of healthy people with a forward looking vision. Let the government, private institutions, businesspeople and individuals build more hospitals and or clinics with modern medical gear.
As a first step towards this move, the Anglican Bishop of Dar es Salaam, the Right Reverend Valentino Mokiwa, has revealed that the Anglican church is to inaugurate a rehabilitated health centre worth 100m/= in Buguruni, Dar es Salaam, in its bid to redress health problems, not only in the area, but also in the country as a whole. It is equipped with very modern facilities, where costs will be low to compare with other hospitals.
Bishop Mokiwa said that the centre to be known as Buguruni Anglican Health centre, can cater for between 40 and 100 patients a day, and apart from offering curative treatment for diseases, it will also provide counselling services.
Here it is being emphasized that the church is not trying to compete with the government but only supplementing government efforts by networking.
”We want to work very closely with the government,” said rejuvinated Bishop Mokiwa,
”If we do not properly tackle the main enemies of this country- which are poverty, illeteracy and diseases, development in all spheres will be hard to realise,” Mokiwa concluded, adding that our vision should be to have a healthy nation, whereby its people can perform day to day activitis without fear.
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