Ailing healthcare sector exposes our emptiness
Retired Anglican Archbishop Livingstone Nkoyooyo is stuck at a London hospital in dire need of about 60,000 Pounds (about Shs265m) for surgery to save his life. Sickness has condemned him there for about two months now and his condition needs urgent medical redress but the prelate’s family has failed to raise the money for his treatment.
They have approached charity organisations and other well-wishers for help but the efforts have not yet yielded the required amount yet Nkoyooyo’s condition continues to escalate every passing day. Appeals to State House and Church of Uganda establishment have not yielded anything of financial value either.
No doubt, the prelate and his family need prayers and support in this difficult time. His painful situation underlines the gravity of our country’s pitiable healthcare infrastructure.
Nkoyooyo’s case is a microcosm of excruciating pain that hundreds, in fact thousands, of Ugandans go through every day for lack of good healthcare. They die when they should have lived. They suffer terminal pain when they should have lived a happy life. They are disabled when they should have lived a productive life.
It’s an indictment to the government. The government that is obliged to provide good healthcare to all Ugandans has reneged on its duty and watches as Ugandans die of curable ailments or sink into ignominious conditions.
For how long will lives of our people depend on the mercy and magnanimity of well-wishers, charity organisations and State House? Such a situation breeds a State-beggar syndrome that requires citizens to have godfathers in State House in order to receive deserved treatment. They have to beg for healthcare rather than demand it from the State as their legitimate right.
We cannot sing about middle income status by 2020 when the country’s hospitals are dead and citizens have to rely on well-wishers for treatment. A country which cannot provide healthcare for its people cannot deliver a middle income status to them. This dream is a hoax. It’s a white elephant.
The private sector is trying to fill the healthcare gap but with little success. Some services need sophisticated medical equipment which require huge and expensive capital investment that the private investors cannot afford. The government must do its duty.
Besides, strong institutions like the church should also consider investing in healthcare as a long-term strategy to help the country, the same way the early colonial Church started schools to promote education and deliver people from illiteracy. Responsibility of our destiny rests squarely in our hands. It cannot be delegated to well-wishers.
The issue: Healthcare.
Our view: We cannot sing about middle income status by 2020 when the country’s hospitals are dead and citizens have to rely on well-wishers for treatment.
