SilanyoCare: The Demise of our
Healthcare System
Greetings!
Attached (also copies and pasted bellow) please find my
new article and publish it on your esteemed website.
As
always, we gladly appreciate your superb journalism and
wonderful job.
Thanks for assisting your people.
Regards,
Abdi Hussein Daud
Generally, healthcare encompasses the
diagnoses, cure and prevention of disease, sickness,
injury and other physical and mental impairment in
humans and animals. The structure and delivery system of
healthcare systems varies. Certain countries distribute
healthcare plan among market accomplices whereas other
countries’ healthcare system is centrally structured.
Notwithstanding its varied planning and delivery
methods, effective health care system requires
sufficient funding; highly-trained and adequately paid
staff; reliable information to make decisions;
facilities and means to deliver drugs as well as
equipment.
Alas Somaliland lacks the entire
aforesaid essential aspects of healthcare system. Across
the indicators of effectiveness, Somaliland’s healthcare
system is ranked woefully the lowest in the world even
in relation to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa,
save Somalia. This renders our healthcare system one of
the worst healthcare systems in the world with tens of
thousands dying each year from effortlessly curable
diseases as well as burgeoning medical malpractices.
Although the significant underlying factors that have
caused, and/or contributed to, the malfunctioning of our
healthcare system are varied and numerous, four crucial
factors will suffice: 1) insufficient healthcare funding
from the central government; 2) chronic shortage of
qualified health professionals; 3) burgeoning
malpractices; and 4) unregulated medications available
throughout the country.
First, the primary factor that plays
pivotal role for the malfunctioning emanates from the
insufficient healthcare funding from the central
government due to Silanyo’s widespread corruption and
inept administrative savoir-faire. The problem
stems largely from the mismanagement and the mounting
misappropriation of public fund. If government's budget
is managed properly, Somaliland’s government would have
succeeded provide the required sufficient fund for its
deteriorating healthcare, as the former Finance Minister
Eng. Mohamed Hashi Elmi had succinctly articulated. Mr.
Elmi disclosed that in 2011 the treasury’s revenue was
US$83m and after three years of improved management the
total sum should have reached US$500m. This vividly
demonstrates that the problem lies primarily on the
devious manner in which our government handles the
public fund. If this trend continues, our healthcare
system will, in due course, collapse.
Secondly, the chronic shortage of all
cadres of qualified healthcare professionals is yet
another lethal blow tearing the entire healthcare system
to shreds.
The reluctance of the government to pay
adequate salaries for healthcare professionals
de-motivates numerous employees. Some of these
demoralized employees abandon government facilities
altogether and start their respective private clinics.
Others who remain in government facilities are forced to
engage in an unlawful practices, e.g., charging patients
more for services rendered and medications, coming-in
late or leaving early to find additional source of
income in order to make ends meet while abandoning
seriously injured or ill patients. Again, Silanyo’s
government failed miserably provide the funding required
to deliver state-of-the-art medical trainings but also
provide adequate salary for medical practitioners.
Thirdly, the scariest aspect of our
healthcare system is the mounting malpractices. Medical
malpractice implies an omission or negligent performance
by medical professionals, e.g., medical doctors,
osteopaths, dentists, nurses, etc., which causes
personal harm to a patient. Malpractice occurs when the
acceptable standard of medical practice are not
satisfied by medical professionals. Under Silanyo’s
administration, the subsequent aspects of medical
malpractice are rampant in Somaliland: misdiagnosing a
condition, reporting inaccurately on test results,
executing surgery without proper knowledge or care,
treating the condition inappropriately, providing
inadequate caution, failing to notify patients for
alternative treatments.
Fourth, another alarming aspect is
the unregulated medications available throughout the
country. The imported poor quality medications, abuse of
drugs and, above all, an immeasurable unregulated
pharmaceutical industry jeopardize public health in
Somaliland. Although all Somaliland citizens'
health is in peril, the most vulnerable segment of the
society are pregnant women and children. The so-called
Somaliland Quality Control Agency (QCA) failed miserable
ensuring the quality of food and drugs imported into the
country. QCA has not even a laboratory for inspecting
drugs. No one knows, even the QCA, what kind of
medications are imported, the expiration date of these
medications, its quality, etc. Therefore, most
“pharmacies” supply expired medications and sell freely
to anyone. Pharmacies become synonymous with local
stores. They simply sell medications without any prior
training. In addition, there is no distinction between
prescribed medications and over-the-counter medications.
Anyone can purchase any medicine without a doctor’s
prescription. To add insult to injury, Silanyo’s
administration failed again to regulate health care
industry through various regulatory bodies protecting
the public from a number of health risks and providing
programs for public health and welfare.
Under Silanyo's administration, our
health care system has been, and will continue to be,
broke provided Silanyo and his crooked cronies remain in
power and continue to openly misappropriate public
fund. Certain camps repeatedly assert that Somaliland's
government is incapable of funding healthcare, and other
essential social services, due to its limited budget.
This erroneous contention falls to the ground when one
closely examines the reality on the ground. Somaliland’s
budget is sufficient enough to cover almost all the
desperately needed social services, including
healthcare. In order to rescue of healthcare system, we
– the people – should vote Silanyo out of office.
We owe it to ourselves and to the
next generation!
Abdi Hussein
Daud
Minneapolis, MN,
USA
The author has obtained BA in
Political Science & Global Studies at University of
Minnesota, Masters in Health and Human Services
Administration at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
and currently pursuing PhD in Clinical Psychology. He
can be reached at:
abdihdaud@yahoo.com
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