Losing our humanity
|Published
TOUGH TALK: Dr Phophi Ramathuba came under fire
Limpopo’s health MEC divided social media last week after she was filmed berating a foreign national for using a government clinic.
Dr Phophi Ramathuba made a few very valid points about our healthcare system being abused, while under severe strain.
I cannot fault her logic about citizens being frustrated at not getting the services they deserve.
But I don’t agree with her that it is because unregistered foreigners are abusing our health-care system.
I don’t agree that one person in need of medical care should be bearing the brunt of her rant, which I fear may have been posturing for the camera.
While a lot of what she said made sense, those are clearly policy issues that should be dealt with at a ministerial level.
Whether it is one foreign national or a hundred, it is a matter that she should be discussing with her national minister, who should take it to the president.
One Zimbabwean in a clinic in Limpopo does not a crisis make.
Individuals, whether citizens are not, will always look for the best possible solution to their challenges.
Does the MEC mean that if she had a health emergency and there was a way for her to get better treatment somewhere, that she wouldn’t take the chance?
Of course she would. Because it is human nature.
Making a sickly person feel guilty about making use of a service that they shouldn’t, isn’t.