MaldivesHealth

After contemplating for a long time, i have decided to shut down this blog. As from today, this blog will not be updated nor any comments will be published. Adios people. Have a good life and enjoy it.

….and to my friend who passed away to drugs 4 years ago on this day

just trying to be optimistic here

Ibra,

Thanks for the submitted bill.

This blog condemn the blocking of Simons blog and stands in support with Random Reflections.

The main point is that despite doctors having a special contract with society, a utilitarian case can be made for a strike. What this means in simple terms is “what is right should result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people.” The short-term inconvenience such as a strike must be balanced against an improvement in care—as a result of allowing doctors to have better living conditions and being better rested, and so then being able to do their job better.

If doctors (and others) truly believe it is important for patient care, then they must sometimes have the courage to do things that are unpopular and difficult. If the conditions that doctors work under put patients at risk, then (on balance) they are morally obliged to strike.

Please read the whole article from NZ medical Journal.

I posted this before. Just to refresh the minds.

With more and more Habees in the health sector increasing day by day, just wondering what will happen in the near future.

Although it is condemned by helping organizations around the world, wife beating is common in many places. What’s worse is when health workers facilitate or condone it as recently reported in a study done in Turkey.

In Turkey which has wife-beating virtually institutionalized, a high percentage of health workers don’t respond or work with the victims of domestic violence in sympathetic ways. That’s because the culture accepts wife- beating. On a questionnaire 69.0% of the female and 84.7% of the male health workers stated that the agreed to or partially agreed to at least one reason to excuse physical violence.

The accepted grounds for beating one’s wife in Turkey includes criticizing the man, lying to him or refusing to care for the children. Deceiving the husband is the most serious offense with over half of female doctors agreeing that the man should be able to punish the wife physically if the wife deceived him. These are accepted grounds also for honor killings.

Because of the cultural rigidity on the matter of approving wife-beating most health care workers in Turkey don’t know the legal issues nor is there any real training in the country to help medical personnel identify and report signs of physical abuse.

Although less than 20% of females report physical abuse by their husbands in Japan, a diplomat, wanting to excuse the beating of his wife, told Canadian officials that it was accepted in Japan. Japan officials were so offended they had the wife abuser, consul general, Shuji Simokoji, sent home. Health workers in Japan do have training in recognizing signs of domestic abuse as do workers in most European countries including Great Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland and others.

One author underlines the fact that some newspapers have erroneously reported the rule of thumb of Blackstone which relates to what they say meant that the husband could beat his wife with a stick so long as it was not wider than his thumb that was supposed to be operation in Great Britain and the United States.. The fact is both Britian and America have had laws predating the Revolution that prohibit wife beating, although there were times and places where the laws weren’t properly applied.

So in many of the developed countries wife beating may occur, but health care workers don’t reinforce or condone it. In Turkey, however, there seems to be no escape for women whose doctors and care providers don’t intercede and help them.

Thanks to Women Against Shariah.

The World Health Report of 2008 was published during October 2008. It revisited the importance of tackling health care NEEDS of the people much more broadly than just considering it as only medical. In fact, it reminds us about the Alma Ata declaration of 1978. It reinforces the debate that IF nations are to achieve equitable health care, we need not necessarily consider health care as a commodity but rather  focus it on people centered care. This  report is a must read report  for all.

The Director General of WHO points out that the report makes:

a compelling call for close attention to health in all government policies, in all sectors. Gaps in health outcomes are not a matter of fate—they are indicators of policy failure. Not surprisingly, the report champions primary health care as a model for a health system that acts on the underlying social, economic, and political causes of ill health.

We need to learn from other experiences. Privatization policy when it comes to health care of countries is already a tested approach all over the world. It does not work and it is a call for disaster. We need to take the right step from the beginning or else we would be struggling in the future. We all know that the US health system is in shambles. During the recent US election, health care debate was in the forefront. Why cant we debate about our health issues? Why cant we bring these issues to the forefront of the public? Is the media doing enough? Does the people know what health care for all means?

Health care should be based on the concept that it is a social service and not a business commodity. Health care is and is a must and a right for all people. Rights cannot and should not be traded between interested parties.  In order to achieve equitable health care for all we need to tackle the determinants of health first.

There are many things we need to talk about. One is of a Medical Act or a Health Act  ( u can call what ever u want).  It is a responsibility of the government to provide us with free health care. It is through legislature that patients as well as practitioners and other health care professionals will feel safe. There is an urgent need to talk about these, specially when the government is talking about privatising health care.

I found this article on the Canadian Medical Journal (CMJ)/ Oct 2008 ;  on why no one should privatize health care. Have a look.

The inefficiency stems from the fact that the US, alone among industrialized countries, relies primarily on private, largely investor-owned corporations to provide health care.8 It is the only industrialized country that treats health care like a market commodity instead of a social service. Thus, health care is distributed not according to medical need but, rather, according to the ability to pay.

I call for an immediate protest to halt this selling of our health.

The easy way MAY NOT  be the best way forward.