How can we improve our public health system in South Africa?

J

Johan Beaurain

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Towards the end of 2006 I made a posting on the abovementioned topic at blogmark for bloggers. The posting triggered a whole range of very critical responses. It is available online at:

http://www.blogmark.co.za/index.php?q=node/6600

The introductory paragraphs to this posting said:

We are now at the end of 2006; more than ten years after democracy came to our land. And we are still having a situation where I cannot even get free access to a traditional/natural health practitioner within the public health system. This is happening whilst I am often feeling the need to consult with someone on how I can improve the quality of my health.
The current system in SA will rather wait for our health to deteriorate to the point of no return, diagnose us with a ‘lethal disease’ of their own making, pump us full of highly toxic drugs and watch us dying within a certain space of time, depending on the severity of the dosage they prescribed. They call it ‘Health Care’. They should rather not do ‘Health Care’ on me.
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I am very curious to know what would be the public opinion amongst the “internet community” on this issue. I would like to request the administrator or moderator of this forum to attach some poll questions to this posting.

Will you please be so kind as to indicate your opinion regarding the suggested poll questions? Suggestions for changes/improvements to the poll questions will be appreciated.

Poll Question I
I am supportive of suggestions for improvements to the public health system that will allow us additional treatment options from a range of several natural health modalities if we so prefer.

Poll Question II
I am happy with the current public health system that offers mostly only allopathic medical care (treatment by pharmaceutical drugs), and I will not support changes to the public health system that will allow for additional treatment options from a range of several natural health modalities.

Poll Question III
My opinion regarding this issue is not covered by any of the options listed above.
 
I cant really vote for any of the above. Since leaving home I've always enjoyed the luxuries of private medical aid (Discovery). Other than the waiting it seems that Joe Public gets it pretty good, I base this opinion on experiences I've heard about from collegues and family who've used public sector health.

I think they're planning on introducing an NHS type thing here by 2010? I can't recall the exact details but it was spoken about at the annual Discovery Health presentation done at my work. Think its going to skim off all the medical aids to pay for everyone or something to that effect, hopefully someone here will have more details.
 
Opinion 2

Dont want my tax money spent on hippie treatments.

And besides, I am not a big fan of public health services (For me at least). When you look at the useless mess that is the British health system, and they have to deal with their huge Tax rates, I prefer our own.

Much rather have our lower Tax with private medical aid (And then still get tax deductions on that)
 
You cannot conduct a poll with such subjective questions.
 
Option 2, despite its subjectivity, luckily I've got medical aid so I'm not subjected to the public health system though.
 
If he's an ex-pat, he should rather do that 'research' for Canadians and leave us alone.
 
BobbyMac said:
Oh look, Johan is trying to generate traffic to his blog again.

For the record, the state of South African public health care is actually not that bad. The oncology treatment in this country is actually extremely good. And as for pharmaceutical products - I know for a fact that you can opt for natural remedy in this country - at very little cost. Heck, the majority of this country probably turns to natural remedies more often than not. Talk about trying to pick a scab where there is none.
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BobbyMac I am talking about this: http://www.blogmark.co.za/index.php?q=node/6600
 
First thing - get tough on border control. People come and go as they please. lol.
 
Improve the public health system?

You only need that one magical thing.... MONEY.

Yes enough MONEY will do it. As things as public health is seriously
underfunded and so the salaries are LOW, there are shortages
of medication and consummables and equipment is under-serviced/or
outdated/not adequate in quantity.

You only need Money.
 
What about the wisdom to know where to prioritise

PeterCH said:
Improve the public health system?

You only need that one magical thing.... MONEY.

Yes enough MONEY will do it. As things as public health is seriously
underfunded and so the salaries are LOW, there are shortages
of medication and consummables and equipment is under-serviced/or
outdated/not adequate in quantity.

You only need Money.
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Money on its own? A lot of money without wisdom? Will it not be a total waste? How will we be able to measure improvements to the public health system. Shorter waiting periods for very expensive treatments? Or will we be measuring the effectiveness of the system of public health with the decreases in the need for expensive treatments and operations?
 
PeterCH said:
Improve the public health system?

You only need that one magical thing.... MONEY.

Yes enough MONEY will do it. As things as public health is seriously
underfunded and so the salaries are LOW, there are shortages
of medication and consummables and equipment is under-serviced/or
outdated/not adequate in quantity.

You only need Money.
Click to expand...

Throwing money into health sector doesnt solve the problem. Period.

Its not just a matter of looking at the health system, and actually, like so many things here in SA, there are other issues which contribute to the downfall of that specific area of concern.

You start off by getting to the root of problems - you dont solve things by throwing money into the heath sector, for example.

You must look at the bigger picture.
 
Are they using our taxcontributions to finance corrupt trials for "medicines"?

Boodles said:
Throwing money into health sector doesnt solve the problem. Period.

Its not just a matter of looking at the health system, and actually, like so many things here in SA, there are other issues which contribute to the downfall of that specific area of concern.

You start off by getting to the root of problems - you dont solve things by throwing money into the heath sector, for example.

You must look at the bigger picture.
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What is the root of the problem? Is it the corrupt nature of humankind? Like the expose of the corrupt FDA trials that can be seen online at: http://www.blogmark.co.za/index.php?q=node/6600#comment-32705
 
He should post on Digg and Slashdot. Apparently the editorial control at /. is so bad these days, all website-promoting-stuff gets through. Make an article on how Linux could be used to promote herbal cures for the 'non-existent' HIV
virus. ;) *THAT* would get it posted :).
 
What do u think happens when a country has no border control? This puts a huge strain on many resources, not just the hospitals/heath sector. lol.
 
The need for action across borders

Boodles said:
What do u think happens when a country has no border control? This puts a huge strain on many resources, not just the hospitals/heath sector. lol.
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Is it not emphasissing the need to develop action across borders? Self-healing across borders?
 
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