A sovereign country, after 56 years of independence and 51 years of republicanism, with a population of about 2 million people, continues to cry for a proper healthcare system. Our health care system squanders money because it is designed to react to emergencies. Hospital emergency rooms, jails, prisons are expensive and ineffective ways to intervene and some people profit from this cycle of continuous suffering as our ministry of health continues to champion the most corrupt ministry in the country.
The healthcare system is a delicate matter as it’s the fundamental pillar for any progressive society. It’s long overdue that our governments, from the first republic to the current government, never take the health care system seriously and treat it with utmost attention that it needs to at least provide the basic healthcare service to its citizenry but they rather use it to enrich themselves all hiding behind healthcare is expensive and for political expediencies.
Putting into context and facts, looking at our current healthcare system from the individual patient, the care team, the organization/government and political and economic environment all is in disarray.
For there to be a proper healthcare system, there must be a well-informed citizenry on basic health care practices ranging from nutrition, physical exercises, when to visit healthcare centres, etc and for all of these, you must have a well-functioning public healthcare system. Having public health officers across every point of the country to sensitize the public on health matters is the foundation of a strong healthcare system; it helps reduce the causes of infections/health complications as the public gets well informed. After having a well-aware public on health matters, you need a strong healthcare team that includes the doctors and the nurses in well-established healthcare centres to be able to provide the health services that the public needs. Healthcare practitioners must be well equipped in terms of knowledge and infrastructure. Sub-Saharan Africa has 24 per cent of the global disease burden, yet it has only three per cent of the world’s healthcare workers. In the case of the Gambia, we lack most healthcare specialists and even if we do have them, there are no adequate health facilities for them to provide services to the people.
There is always a need for a serious government to build a standard healthcare system, but what we have always been seeing is that our governments lack the foresight and innovation to change the system to a better functioning one. Taking examples of the current situation, we are having no proper healthcare centres but instead of the government focusing on equipping the existing ones to at least serve their purpose and train the existing healthcare deliverers, they are busy buying expensive ambulances for basically political expediency purposes. Nurses and doctors are expressing unhappy working conditions and all that the government can do is go into an unnecessary drama with them and politicizing the entire situation instead of looking at how to fix the situation.
One major thing which is the backbone of any healthy nation with proper healthcare across the world is Scientific Research. We can’t have proper and affordable healthcare services for ourselves until we start researching and finding our own solutions to our own realities. Looking at how many disease/infections that are specific to The Gambia and her neighbouring countries and the number of scientific research facilities is unmatched. So, we have to depend on the other parts of the world to conduct research on our problems and offer solutions and in return, we import both the knowledge and all that comes with healthcare and we still complain that healthcare is expensive. Looking at what the USA is spending on healthcare only per year is more than the GDP of Africa in totality per year. In reality, healthcare is expensive but why are they having standard and affordable healthcare than we do? Because their system is being backed by research.
Also, a tremendous amount of needless pain and suffering can be eliminated by ensuring that health insurance is universally available. It is time that we take control and find a way to curtail the explosive costs of healthcare. Small businesses deserve a chance to channel these funds toward other needs, such as expanding and creating more jobs for the economy.
You can't afford to get sick, and you can't depend on the present healthcare system to keep you well. It's up to you to protect and maintain your body's innate capacity for health and healing by making the right choices in how you live. So, until we can build a proper healthcare system let people be aware of issues surrounding their health in relation to our ways of living.
A System Change is Needed.
By Ousman L Camara
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