Times Of Swaziland: WE DO NOT DESERVE THIS!

WE DO NOT DESERVE THIS!
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The Editor on 08/09/2018 05:04:00


COMMENT
What have we, the innocent public, done to deserve the treatment we are being
subjected to in some of the country’s health institutions that is about to
cost the lives of some people?
When will people’s lives matter to such a degree that visible proactive and
appropriate action is taken to avert unnecessary inconvenience, harm or death of
people?
We’ve hardly overcome the drug shortages and now we are confronted with locked
doors and lack of personnel at some of our health facilities.
We have also been warned to brace ourselves for the release of psychiatric
patients onto the streets because they are too dangerous to staff and each other
at the psychiatric centre, without the necessary drugs.
Teachers, on the other hand, are telling parents to keep their children at home
as schools may be fully functional when they re-open for the third-term next
week. It seems dangerous to dismiss these warnings as idle threats given the
negative developments playing themselves out at our health institutions.
Nurses are prepared to sacrifice our lives for money; a tendency copied from our
government, no doubt, which has brought our once vibrant economy to its knees.
The genesis of all this is poor allocation and utilisation of our resources.
We have paid our taxes, albeit begrudgingly, and are entitled to nothing less
than full access to quality health, education and safety, among other government
public service delivery obligations.
For the consultative country that we say we are, we deserve a government that
listens to the good advice that has been flowing freely to it for decades
through countless dialogue forums, sector engagements, governance experts,
regional and international best practices and sometimes valid contributions from
Sibaya and the people’s representatives in parliament.
However, here we are today where we, the ordinary citizens, have to bear the
brunt of our contributions that were of no good to the decision makers. We’ve
asked the question before but will do so again until the people get to be
listened to: How many more must die before our lives matter to government?