Imanae Malik died for a purpose:honor her sacrifice
Dr. Simon Azariah (simonazariah@yahoo.com)
No parent should be made to face the death of a child. I still remember I was with a colleague of mine in Karachi in 1999 for a meeting. She had brought her two daughters 13 and 11 with her from Lahore and they had gone to Kalri Lake with my colleague’s brother. The boat capsized and both her daughters died. I can never forget what I witnessed my colleague went through. I met her after two years of the incidence again and she was a different person… a symbol of solitude! No one should experience the death of a child!
But if the death of a child is brought about my medical negligence then the crime is unpardonable. The parents of Imanae went to a renowned hospital, afforded extravagant fees and expected speedy, personalized and advanced medical attention and obviously a quick resolution of the injury that the innocent child had suffered. What did they get instead? No not only the death of their child but a crystallized residue of all the injustice that we all have created in this society. This is not the first incidence nor its going to be the last one. This abhorrence has been going on and will continue to go on unless…unless something changes .. something fundamental. Culling the black sheep in the doctor community is not going to stop this vicious evilness. We will continue to seek medical care from such expensive so called hospitals where doctors are all too much in a hurry to earn a fast buck and where humanity has ceased to exist and we will continue to receive negligent attitude which will continue to cause death and disability.
We MUST stop for a minute to see what is happening and why Imanae lost her life. I strongly believe that the little angle gave her life for a purpose. Why else would she die and make the poor parents suffer hell at the peak of their lives? Imanae died to remind us that we all have caused her death. The doctor on duty was merely an instrument of the evil machine that we have created and have nurtured!
Why do we take pride in taking our sick to PRIVATE practitioners and pay exorbitant fees? Why do we look down upon those who cannot afford and are reduced to go to sarkari hospitals? Why only the poor are herded in the public hospitals, RHCs and BHUs where they get third rate service, third rate medicines and above all third rate behavior from the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff? Why in teaching hospitals patients are seen as sick poor guinea pigs who serve to teach and train the elitist brigade of doctors who not only mock them but also mistreat them and the professors of medical science practice their negligence and insulting attitude on them? Because we are driven by values that have actually degenerated and we think that we can buy cure and health.
We as a nation have made the divide so deep that we think that only those who are rich can afford and deserve polite, competent and careful medical and health service which in fact should be the norm of all health care provision. We have paid the (private) doctor so highly that it has driven this service provider absolutely insane and s/he is excessively driven by the desire to extort the most out of the wealthy by providing a ‘polite’ and hotel standard service.
If Imanaes of our nation have to be saved then it has to be both poor and rich Imanaes. Why only rich Imanae’s parents get all the attention in the world and poor Imanae’s parents are kicked in their teeth instead by the medical tribe when their daughter dies and worst are made to suffer first and then killed? For God’s sake wake up..wake up and change!
We all need to change. We need to change the pricing of the doctors. If the demand is high for private practitioners then doctors will meet with corresponding supply and become private practitioners. But the principles of private practice are not based on medical ethics. They are simple responses to market forces. Doctors will give you hotel standards: plush waiting areas, expensive interior and a whole lot of lies! Real medical practice is where the aim is to treat the patient of his/her illness and not to treat oneself with rewarding fees.
Dear reader, please do not let Imanae’s sacrifice go waste. Please see that the innocent’s blood was shed for a cause. Wake up: say no to high private practitioners’ fees. Please go to public health facilities and pay there. You will get good medical treatment if you help the public health institutions by paying there. Seek respect from the medical community but also respect those sects of this community who devote their lives, time and energy in working hard to heal and save millions. All those doctors, nurses, dispensers and many more who work in rural areas in BHUs and RHCs: respect them all. Do not let your ego get the better of you. There is no disrespect if you have to wait a while in a queue for your turn and wait with the poor and not so wealthy instead of showing off your wealth and buying personalized medical care. It is an appeal to the medical community as well to stop deepening this divide of being respectful and available to the rich and kicking shins of the poor. Those who can afford should not only pay at the public hospitals but should also subsidize for those who cannot pay. If exorbitant fees are not paid directly by the users and the doctors get paid by an employer regulated by the larger arbitration of the medical science, quality assurance and responsible service provision will be facilitated.
Please reader make this choice in favour of all the innocent people who have died at the hands of the private-practice demon. We have created and nurtured this abomination. We now have to take measures to cut off the blood supply of this monster. Let’s play our part. Please do not let Imanae’s sacrifice go waste.
Posted by: SOHIP Web Manager