It saddens me to note just how gullible the poor and downtrodden of our society are. After many years of unfulfilled empty promises, which have left them more destitute than they ever have been in their lives before, are still hopeful that maybe this time something good might still materialise from the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI).
I can assure you, there will be no health services just a few months after the implementation of NHI in this country, much like what happened in Zimbabwe after the late former president Robert Mugabe introduced Health for All in that country in 1992, that is why SA has been providing healthcare services for Zimbabweans for years.
This is despite all the horror stories that have dominated our newspapers about the state of our healthcare services. Only about a week ago we learnt about how patients were starved in the first six months of this year in 26 public hospitals in Gauteng out of a total of 34 hospitals.
And before we recover from that shock, we learnt this week that 706 nurses have had their contracts terminated in Limpopo because of lack of funding. It is unfair for the government to take advantage of the ignorance and desperation of the poor who are forever hoping for free services from government, even though by now they should have learnt from experience that most of the things that have been promised to them, have proved to be nothing but empty promises, and the reality is that their lives have become harder and the suffering more unbearable.
The health services which continue to be subsidised by the government for everyone in public hospitals since a 100 year ago, were the best until the present government took over and changed everything, resulting in all the hardships facing our health system today.
If we are to be honest, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know. Don’t gamble with the lives of our nation. The overcrowding in all our health facilities is overstretching our meagre resources, thanks to this government’s open border system. What we see today will be like a Sunday picnic once NHI is implemented; the whole of Africa will be here for free pickings.
Don’t ask for more trouble than we already have.
Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand
READER LETTER | NHI inviting more trouble than we already have
Image: 123RF/HXDBZXY
It saddens me to note just how gullible the poor and downtrodden of our society are. After many years of unfulfilled empty promises, which have left them more destitute than they ever have been in their lives before, are still hopeful that maybe this time something good might still materialise from the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI).
I can assure you, there will be no health services just a few months after the implementation of NHI in this country, much like what happened in Zimbabwe after the late former president Robert Mugabe introduced Health for All in that country in 1992, that is why SA has been providing healthcare services for Zimbabweans for years.
This is despite all the horror stories that have dominated our newspapers about the state of our healthcare services. Only about a week ago we learnt about how patients were starved in the first six months of this year in 26 public hospitals in Gauteng out of a total of 34 hospitals.
And before we recover from that shock, we learnt this week that 706 nurses have had their contracts terminated in Limpopo because of lack of funding. It is unfair for the government to take advantage of the ignorance and desperation of the poor who are forever hoping for free services from government, even though by now they should have learnt from experience that most of the things that have been promised to them, have proved to be nothing but empty promises, and the reality is that their lives have become harder and the suffering more unbearable.
The health services which continue to be subsidised by the government for everyone in public hospitals since a 100 year ago, were the best until the present government took over and changed everything, resulting in all the hardships facing our health system today.
If we are to be honest, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know. Don’t gamble with the lives of our nation. The overcrowding in all our health facilities is overstretching our meagre resources, thanks to this government’s open border system. What we see today will be like a Sunday picnic once NHI is implemented; the whole of Africa will be here for free pickings.
Don’t ask for more trouble than we already have.
Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand
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