It is not true that there are Zambians, at any level, who have made a vocation of living at hospitals under the guise of looking after sick relatives.
What would be the advantages doing so anyway? It is significant that even Luo could only detail the disadvantages. What is true is that an increasing number of people are compelled to take up more or less permanent residence at hospitals to genuinely take care of sick relatives. This trend has to be blamed entirely on the failures of Luo's ministry, in particular, and the MMD government in general, to provide basic services to patients.
Many hospitals, despite the introduction of health reforms, are still unable to feed patients. There are no drugs and many people are dying of treatable diseases. There is no linen even. There is discontent among hospital staff due to poor conditions of service and it has gotten worse since Luo's appointment due to what they consider her "pomposity and arrogance".
The truth of the matter is that only the poor still have faith in local hospitals. The well to do fly to South Africa even for a headache and even the government has paid airfares to transport 'corpses' to that country but has failed to buy enough drugs for the poor who cannot travel there. In the local (lees districts) hospitals a patient needs the support of the family more than ever before. The family must bring in the food, many times must they buy the drugs which the hospital never has in stock and take care of myriad other needs of patients. There is no way out.
It is therefore cruel and totally insensitive for a minister to suggest that this is a hobby among some people. What choice do they have? They are driven to these lengths merely to try and ensure that their relatives do not pass on if they can help it.
Luo should have been the first to commend this attitude by the community because she has little, if not nothing, to offer as a Minister of Health. It is astonishing that she is now only making denigrating remarks. It is shocking that she chose to make such remarks at a ceremony like that attended by foreign dignitaries. This is a clear case of misrepresenting the situation in the country. Perhaps then the image building committee of the government will take her to task or is it only independent newspapers to that mislead the outside world?"
Deze pagina's worden door Herman Kuiper onderhouden.