Getting SDGs into action
We can get this one right from the start. On November 4 1977, late president Hastings Kamuzu Banda opened Kamuzu Central hospital (KCH) as a referral hospital for the Central and Northern regions. In 1977, Lilongwe had a population of 102 000 but now has already passed the one million mark.
The whole Central Region now is almost seven million compared to two million in 1977. From another angle, the population of Malawi in 1977, was 25 percent smaller than the entire Central Region today. Are you not scared? If you can afford some good care, then I am not surprised that dream clinic is Garden City or Milpark Hospital sometimes indirectly funded by the poor taxpayer.
The brutality of facts remains in their ruthlessness and the blatant truth they communicate. But the good thing, not all truth hurts, it simply helps us do things better and safeguard the dignity of every citizen. If we see all the chaos at KCH, it is because the 36-year-old referral was built to cater for a population of two million. It now caters for seven million. I would not want to replicate the same analogy for the other cities. But what is the point?
While we debate the health crisis, there is something that is not getting into our heads. The recent United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) was a great event no matter the controversy that it has continued to attract. I mean the list. Beyond the list of Malawian delegates to the UNGA, there are some great resolutions, especially with respect to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that relate to the health system.
It is a proven fact that healthy people are capable of being productive and move a country ahead in terms of its development. One critical aspect of the SDGs includes addressing matters of sanitation, water, health and education and vulnerabilities of women and girls in goals two, three and four. Besides, these goals, one critical issue that has come out of the SDGs is the matter of governance. It is of great relevance to our country considering the wanton theft of taxpayer funds by those with the privilege to deliver on public policy.
As our elected representatives debate the national address, there are many issues that they can look at beyond the usual empty rhetoric or who spoke well and for how long. To put this in a real perspective, since 1964, or if I may use the catchy 51, we have only built two referral hospitals, that are now ill-equipped to deal with challenges the majority of the people face. During the same period, we have borrowed money to build a stadium, hotels, roads, parliament and many other things. There is no piecemeal solution, but we need hard ones to deal with the health crisis.
While it is easy to wear a liberal hat or a politically incorrect shoe that reckons each one of us should pay, the case of KCH will remain a crisis just like all other referral facilities. That all our major four cities require more referral facilities with more specialty units is not rocket science anymore. It can only be if you bask in the glory of private insurance with immediate foreign medical evacuation benefits. The immediate steps that seek to address SDGs such as goals two, three and four can lay a foundation that is long broken.
As we come to terms with our mighty kwacha and our desire to attract as many foreign investors, the health system is one aspect that requires a radical decision. Think of Lilongwe as our major gateway and, naturally, one would expect most investors setting base in this city. While money talks and remains a motivation of any investor, their choice of any city to put their money never ignores what should happen if they fall sick. If we were to heavily borrow and build new huge hospitals, I do not think anyone in this country would get annoyed unless they have issues synonymous with trendy malingering.
Let us begin to think of our health system to stitch up our numbers. Besides education, it is a foundation for national development in any country, God loving or quota system obsessed. It would be a waste of time trying to explain why each one of us needs good health care. Like food, it is a basic right as it ensures children complete school or workers remain productive. A teacher cannot stand in class amid a loose bowel. It is that simple. Remember this sad episode? God health matters and it requires evidence-based or data-sensitive planning.
The reality is if you are rich or aloof, you may not see some of these things. That Malawians spend too much time at funerals, though culturally insensitive, is pointer to how we lose productivity. Productivity in the context of young lives lost or workers out of their jobs. If you do not use public hospitals you may never see these things but you cannot avoid them if you are an employer of some kind. Apparently, new president of Tanzania was surprised when he made a surprise visit to a public hospital to find patients sharing beds or sleeping on the floor. A situation that is no different from our facilities.
So are we getting the SDGs into real business or is this another opportunity of too much empty talk full of useless working groups to draw down funds? Proposal writing experts are ready, but time to get that talk for real.
