Rant

I have just been watching a program about the brain drain that African countries and in this case specifically Malawi are suffering on their health professionals. It struck some cords with me...i have always believed that doctors should not be allowed to charge for their services, yes, i know that's naive and all, but really the right to medical attention in my opinion should be one of the basic human rights..so whether one is poor or rich, on should have these services available to them. But in Africa today, you get only the medical services you can pay for, since the government run medical facilities are all run-down and suffering under the strain of too few facilities/health professionals and just too many people. Only the more affluent people can afford to pay medical aid and/or more expensive doctors in private facilities. Therefore, if doctors did not charge for their services, then all people would receive this basic human right and the best of it. So you're probably wondering how the professionals would survive, this should be the governments' responsibility to provide and provide adequately for them. This would also sort out the problem of the brain drain, according to those doctors who were interviewed on the program that i watched...the main reason they leave to go and work in the western countries is because of the better lives they would be making for themselves and their families from the salaries that sometimes come to more than 200-300 times what they earn when they remain in Africa. None of them mentioned going overseas because the quality of life was better for them their...infact i think given a choice, most of them would return home in a flash to be close to their extended families and just generally enjoy the kind of life they grew up in. In this way 2 birds will be killed with the reversal of the brain drain and not having 1 doctor serving approximately 50000 patients as is the case in Malawi.

Another thing, i think its morally wrong that these media houses like cnn, bbc, et al purely go in and film the suffering of people on their various news stories and don't make any attempt to help them. These companies are definitely making money from airing these programs, increasing their ratings and stuff..but what reward do these people get from having their suffering televised for all and sundry to see? NOTHING!!! I think it is about time someone put a stop to this