Times Of Swaziland: GOVT NOW KILLING ITS PEOPLE

GOVT NOW KILLING ITS PEOPLE
================================================================================
The Editor on 15/05/2017 02:51:00


Comment
What value does our government place on the life of an ordinary citizen when it
allows our hospitals and clinics to run short of essential drugs? There is no
guessing the answer to this because this has been going on for weeks, if not
months.
There is also no guessing the answer to whether  or not any sick person should
bother going to hospital today, because we wake up to threats of a go-slow
strike action by nurses to force government to attend to grievances of their
own.
One layer of our Florence Nightingales’ beef with the employer is the
inability to effectively carry out their work due to the shortage of drugs in
hospitals and clinics nationwide.
Where then is the people’s budget that the Finance Minister viciously
defended, if the people are now the ones suffering to death, literally?
First it was the life of government service providers hanging by a thread due to
a cash-flow crisis. Sadly, on the list of unpaid service providers were medical
suppliers and now the ordinary citizen has no access to medication.
The Health Ministry is too scared to say just how much is being owed and seems
helpless with regards to coming up with a solution that ensures people go to the
hospital today to find the drugs they need to stay alive.
And it is not just the drugs that we expect to find, but the nurses who are not
on a go-slow strike because they are part of an essential service. They cannot
bargain with people’s lives. The cruelest thing they could ever do is join
government’s heartless action of killing innocent people.
Likewise, we call upon government to stop gambling with the health of a nation
by not paying those who supply essential medication.
The Health Minister Sibongile Simelane had better start spending cold sleepless
nights at the door of the office to the Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini from
today, until money is released to buy the drugs needed to treat people.
Government’s skewed priorities should not result in a mass grave of Swazi
citizens who have duly paid their taxes because the Swaziland Revenue Authority
(SRA) is leaving no cent unchecked - ruthlessly so in some cases might we add.
The timing of it all could not have been more ironic. We are certain that the
prime minister, who turns 75 today and is currently away receiving medical
treatment abroad, would have loved a happier birthday than to be accorded the
best medical treatment while his government allows those it should serve
diligently, to die.