A forum for all who are passionate about bringing positive change to Nigeria by constructive debate and action.
Friday, 13 April 2012
Health is wealth
It's been a while since I posted to this blog and i promise you I haven't lost steam about making Nigeria better, my silence has been due to ill health. These past weeks where I was plagued first with the flu and then by a vile stomach virus have been tough and once again I have been faced with my mortality which made me think about all the people who like me were suffering yet could not afford to get treated. Living in the UK has its perks, one of them is free access to the national health service. It may not be the best service in the world but it exists and the employees do a good enough job of helping a lot of the populace through their ailments and giving advice on nutrition and exercise. Before my fellow Nigerians jump in and start throwing mud at our government, when i say this service is free i mean that it is free at the point of access but it comes at a cost. This service can only be provided free because members of the working population contribute a good proportion of their salaries to the national insurance pot. Every working person is taxed based on income earned from the high income earners to the basic rate earners. That's the key, everyone contributes, no one can opt out and everyone can benefit from the service. Of course it's a free society and people are allowed to purchase private care but the fact remains that all who work contribute. I understand that the Nigerian government is setting up a national health service. My understanding is that the scheme will benefit only those who contribute. I believe that one of the building blocks of a just society is equality. How can there be equality when we support the ever increasing divide between the haves and the have nots. I believe there is a lesson we can learn from the UK example and think of ways were those who are working can contribute to and demand the building of a fair society. People living below the breadline are as acutely and even more so aware of their mortality every time they are ill and they too would like someone to care for them and help them get better. I think there may be an opportunity here to push for a more equal health scheme and a better Nigeria. All comments will be appreciated.
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It can be obtainable in Nugeria if only our govt. is sincere about it. My only worry is even when this is put into law for everyone working to contribute towards such scheme, will the money be used to put these free health facilities in place?
ReplyDeleteSee the scandals rocking the pension scheme, how do we trust the govt. if this will not also happen with funds contributed to put such health scheme in place?
As mentioned earlier,its obtaniable, but first we need to reduce corruption to a minimum level if we can't get rid of it completely, and don't be surprise if the money contributed for such scheme is used effectively, the service can be free even for those not working.
Thanks for your comment Ezzy, I agree with you a 100%. Corruption needs to be driven down to a minimum and eliminated if people are to have any confidence in contributing to a welfare pot. Now the question remains, who is responsible for driving out corruption? Every single person is. We cannot continue to wait for the government, yes they must provide the infrasttructure to remove corruption but at a macro level, we are all responsible for saying no to this monster in our daily lives. Starting from teaching our children to be honest and respectful citizens, to young people saying no to exam malpractice, to employees working their full hours and not dodging to run businesses of their own on their employers time. Corruption is an endemic disease, let us root it out of our lives.
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