
Agenda | Feb 19,2022
Feb 29 , 2020
By Eden Sahle
It is inconvenient to live in a country where unprofessionalism is ripe in every sector, government office or private organisation. It is scary when we realise that incompetence and negligence also reign at health institutions.
To the horror of my friends and me, one of our closest friends was in a car accident. From his accident to the neglect he faced at the hands of medical institutions and traffic and police officers, it was a nightmare that we had to go through.
My friend was flying abroad the night the accident happened. On his way to the airport, he realised he had forgotten his phone and decided to return to pick it up. He called one of the taxi-hailing service providers and was heading home when the vehicle he was travelling in crashed after the driver lost control.
Both the driver and my friend were injured, the latter much more seriously than the former. My friend is still undergoing intensive care treatment for an injury that would have been much less severe had it not been for an extraordinary show of incompetence.
Let us start with the online transportation service providers, who do not offer auto-insurance for passengers in the event of an accident. They also do not have a system to alert the head office when an accident occurs. This made locating my friend and his driver very difficult.
Worse still were the police officers who were called to the scene after the accident. Instead of identifying the victim, they packed the luggage he was carrying, and the identification cards in them, as exhibits, blocking any means to contact his family. After much effort, he was able to be identified through the online taxi transportation service he was using but only after several hours following the accident.
Our nightmare did not end there. A Good Samaritan volunteered to take him from the scene of the accident to a private hospital near Gerji in Bole District. But the hospital refused to treat him. An unconscious, heavily bleeding person was turned away, despite the laws, because the stranger that brought him there was asked to pay 70,000 Br upfront in the middle of the night. The private hospital referred him to a public hospital instead, where he was found by his family lying on the ground in his own pool of blood.
Is this how medical professionals and institutions should act? Where is their medical ethics and training to save lives? Where is their Hippocratic Oath they swear upon graduation to take care of patients according to their ability and judgment and to never do harm to anyone? Where is their compassion and priority to save lives first?
There is also irony in all of this. In a country like Ethiopia, where there is a single doctor responsible for over 30,000 people, the country is denying employment to medical graduates, claiming that there are enough of them already working.
Do the Ministry of Health and those in leadership positions know the shortage of medical professionals at the public and private institutions? Do they know people die due to lack of immediate medical attention?
Medical negligence and carelessness can lead to someone's death. It is unthinkable for a medical institution to refuse care to patients in emergency situations for the simple reason that they are unable to pay. All hospitals and their physicians are duty-bound to stabilise and provide medical screening examinations for each patient that comes to the facility for emergency care, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.
There should be systems in place during emergencies to ensure that treatments are carried out appropriately and fairly. The private health care system is not just cruel and unjust but also ludicrous in expecting that patients in need of emergency attention would have wads of cash, in the middle of the night, to cover the expenses that could save their lives. That is why there is a law to the contrary and why the Hippocratic Oath exists.
Indeed, where a health institution is not capable of providing the necessary emergency medical treatment, following the health institution’s standard, the law requires them to refer the patient to an appropriate health institution capable of dispensing the essential care.
Regrettably, public hospitals are forced to take on referrals far too often and are overburdened to give the appropriate care to patients. Private hospitals should share the burden and diligently provide care during emergencies instead of avoiding and violating their responsibility. Incessant capitalism is a cruel and unjust alternative to what should be effective and universal health coverage.
PUBLISHED ON
Feb 29,2020 [ VOL
20 , NO
1035]
Agenda | Feb 19,2022
Sponsored Contents | Mar 21,2022
Radar | Apr 26,2019
Agenda | Apr 09,2022
Featured | Jun 08,2019
Fortune News | Jan 25,2020
Agenda | Feb 13,2021
Radar | Dec 04,2021
Films Review | Apr 30,2021
Fortune News | Feb 06,2021
Photo Gallery | 82327 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 74464 Views | Apr 26,2019
Fineline | 58295 Views | Oct 03,2020
Fortune News | 58163 Views | Jul 18,2020
Dec 24 , 2022
Biniam Mikru heads the department of cabinet affairs under Mayor Adanech Abiebie. But...
Jul 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
Nov 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
Nov 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
Nov 25 , 2023
Ethiopia's quest to develop a functioning capital market is a demanding yet not unach...
Nov 18 , 2023
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has made a fervent call for landlocked Ethiopia to ga...
Nov 11 , 2023
In November last year, a ray of hope pierced the gloomy skies of Ethiopia as the Pret...
Nov 4 , 2023
In the corridors of economic policy-making, a quote often attributed to Albert Einste...
Nov 25 , 2023
Awash International Bank (AIB) posted a striking surge in net profits, reaching 6.9 b...
Nov 25 , 2023 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
A new regulatory measure Djibouti's customs officials enforced led to importers being...
Nov 25 , 2023 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Minister of Health Lia Tadesse (MD) has displayed her ambition of rolling out a three...
Nov 25 , 2023 . By DAWIT LIDETA
A year after the cessation of hostilities agreement was signed between the Tigray People's Liberation Front(TPLF) and the Federal government...