One of the most heartbreaking and sad realities of life is watching a patient die due to lack of finances, inability to afford treatment/medication and emergency surgery. Sad situations like this have raised alot of questions and doubts about humanity, compassion, conscience and responsibilities.
Whenever ,I see loved ones and family cry bitterly due to their inability to pay for medical emergency bills, I get really confuse on who to blame. Should I blame the government, the hospital, the doctor or even the patient? There are many reasons to blame all of them.
Many individuals have fought against the price tag that these hospitals have attached to survival. Hospitals are now seen as a place of business, before the oath sworn by the doctor is being considered, and sometimes I wonder if it's right for these hospitals to place a price before saving a life.
Inasmuch as the core purpose of the hospital is to save the lives of people and provide care for all, including the rich and poor, we can't ignore the modern hospital needs alot of finance to function adequately. The hospital requires proper equipment, medications, surgical tools, electricity, and funds to pay its staff. To run a hospital, alot of money needs to be invested and, just like everyother business, the aim would be to make back their capital and even profit. The hospital isn't a charity organization and the hospital needs money to run successfully, especially a private owned hospital.
I understand that hospitals need the finances to run successfully, but for the sake of humanity and good conscience, the act of demanding emergency medical care should not rely solely on a price.
It's a sin to humanity to watch patience bleed and die of illnesses that could have been attended to first, before the price is being considered.
I saw a video of a man who lost his wife because of #8,000, and he even pleased that the hospital should attend to her while he searched for the money, but his wife wasn't given a second chance to live because of money as low as #8000.
Situations like this keep me wondering if these hospitals don't care about lives or maybe use to seeing people die.
These unnecessary delays can cause the death of loved ones. When it has to do with emergencies, hospitals can do better, stopping the delay and, for the sake of humanity, give them sustainable treatment and trust their family to pay the bills in installments and give them sometime.
The hospital policies should be flexible, especially for emergency cases. Emergency cases are unplanned. That's why patients need to be considered, instead of being left helplessly.
I understand the hospital is also a business and needs finance to run, but there should be a level of consideration for emergency cases and there should be a way to punish those who default payments after being attended to. The policies and system should make payments easier for those emergency cases.
For government hospitals, there should be a more flexible way of payment and also, the government can provide a very affordable healthcare insurance for the poor citizens. This would really help in situations like this, because the private hospital isn't always an option for the less privileged. For the private owner, it's first a business, not even a hospital.
The government can make health care easier and reachable in government-owned hospitals and also help regulate the prices given in private hospitals, and give strict rules to them as regards emergency cases.
Over the years, we have also had charity organizations and NGOs help in ways they could and that's a sign that humanity still cares.
A flexible payment plan can really help in reducing the death rate of people.
Inasmuch as the hospital will always need finance to run daily and equip themselves, we can't forget that compassion should always remain at the center of medicine.
Proper healthcare shouldn't be a privilege for only the rich. The poor also deserve to be given the best medical attention, and they should also be considered while fixing medical prices and during emergency cases.
The system should be balanced to favour the rich and the poor. Nobody should be abandoned during their most desperate and helpless time.
