Africa-Press – Eswatini. Never mind that the minister of health will chair a 20-member committee in an audacious attempt to raise a mouth-watering E60m to breathe life into The Luke Commission, which itself has been placed in the intensive care unit having been forced to scale down its operations from December last year.
While the crisis at The Luke Commission had been a long time coming, as part of the broader health crisis the country is grappling with, it is a situation the country can ill-afford. TLC has been, to a great extent, the reason why we have not yet experienced a total collapse of the health sector in this country.
Their free services aside, the hospital’s faith-based health services and innovation have obviously saved many lives, with the hospital reporting increasing numbers of patients over the two years the country has faced drugs shortage and health challenges.
It is unimaginable what might have happened had TLC itself faced the same critical challenges as the Mbabane Government Hospital and the referral hospitals all around the country.
When one analyses the data from the hospital, of patients who have come to TLC over the years, it shows that a large number of people have had to travel long distances to access health services from Sidvokodvo, because their hospitals and clinics in and around the areas they come from have collapsed.
This is the major challenge the drugs shortage and health crisis has caused in the country, which to date appears government has failed to put its finger on the pulse.
Instead, what we have witnessed in the past year or so has been to politicise the drugs shortage in hospitals in such a shameful way that the solutions government is putting into place are no different to exacerbate the situation.
It will be an entire decade before the country is once more boasting of an efficient health sector that provides the services all across the length and the breath of this country.
Instead of the dirty politics, what government needs to do is address this challenge wholistically, because at the present moment, it feels as though there is no grand plan being followed to get to the bottom of the health crisis.
The notion that the health crisis rests only with procurement and suppliers is a total fallacy and a proper scandal. This country’s health sector is crumbling, and the solution is to look at the broader picture than to nit pick on the issues to gain popularity.
It may very well be that there are challenges with procurement, but we still do not have any joy with procurement – almost a year later despite the makeshift solutions including suspensions. In fact, last month, the public was told one story after another over another audacious if not expensive plan to procure and supply – one itself that has many gaping holes.
It did not feel as though that was thought-through, other than trying their hardest to make it look like there were suppliers who were singled out – not to be given the tender, while the others were to be effectively made sure they got the tender!
That does not help the situation one bit. What it does is create an unnecessary heightened and misleading picture. It only serves to prolong the crisis, which is why sitting here I am convinced that the direction we have taken in trying to solve this problem is the worst.
This is why, therefore, the TLC had become an important player in mitigating the effects of the bad decisions around procurement and ensuring that hospitals all around the country were able to provide affordable healthcare. This TLC did very well, even to the extent of delivering these services to the communities, using their own transport.
Not only that, TLC had a vibrancy to it. They were an operation that was the envy and pride for many at equal levels. They were the finest example of a well-run hospital that symbolised the future of healthcare services. This was up until they hit that iceberg, and now the titanic is sinking and a solution is desperately being sought.
The pilot has now sounded the alarm that the ship is sinking, as services have been downscaled and staff have been laid off since December. The music has stopped playing and the water is starting to emerge. The titanic is heading for disaster.
This best explains why the minister of health has come up with a task force – of 20 odd people no doubt. The task force was announced on Thursday, and is to raise the millions it takes to ensure the titanic does not sink.
For starters, this is a good idea. This country needs the TLC – at its finest. It needs all of what they bring to the table, which is innovating on the solutions – efficiently and cheaper. There are many critics of what the TLC does. There are many who do not like their style. There are many who are happy that it is experiencing the challenges, and who are now frowning upon government helping to find a solution.
Those people, of course, are selfish and short-sighted. The role that the TLC plays in the health sector cannot be taken for granted. It is very significant and it has saved many lives. Without TLC and its exuberant leadership, the story would be different – and the minister is right, the hospital was immense for this country during COVID-19.
Without the TLC we would have plunged into a dark cloud. But so too the health sector itself. It proved to be very strong and resilient during COVID-19 and this country survived the worst because we had a very good health sector that we should always be grateful for.
Those of us who have lived to tell the tale will forever sing the praises of the health system, for we know that it was efficient when it had to be.
It is therefore negligent, if not plain mischievous to not recognise that the health sector took a beating during the two years when it had to stand strong, hence the solution to building a strong sector again requires an all-inclusive approach – instead of singling out people for blame.
Cabinet needs to therefore have serious coffee around finding a tangible solution instead of playing to the public gallery and our desperate desire to end the corruption in the supply chain. That by the way is only a symptom of the problem, which itself can’t be solved with one stroke of the magic wand.
It obviously requires a whole new approach to tendering to get to the bottom of this issue, instead of the gimmick we have seen being played out so far.
But, as for the TLC Task Force, my opinion is that it makes sense to find a solution that prevents the TLC from collapse – although I am also very confident this fund-raising drive can’t be the long-term solution.
The Luke Commission is on record having said that it spends no less than E10m a month, thereabout.
The rescue plan, therefore, only helps temporarily and soon we will be back to square one – which is no different to what our local institutions grapple with.
It makes sense to look for a solution that solves the crisis throughout the country and that includes our national hospitals, for if TLC continues to be the only functional one then it will be a futile exercise.
The real reason TLC has had such a number of visitors to the hospital is that patients have been turned back at other institutions. In a nutshell, there is a need to ensure that all the regional institutions are functional and back to their level.
That requires a whole new rescue plan, and money that runs in the billions – which is not in Neal Rijkenberg’s budget. It requires a plan that does not involve us going cap in hand to our donors to help us while we are able to buy MPs plush new cars.
It requires a plan that identifies what makes us enjoy health services that are affordable and long-lasting.
This is to say, if Mduduzi Matsebula wants to rescue the health sector, he needs more than 20 people to raise money. He needs the health sector to sit down and have tea and biscuits over what is required and then he starts implementing that.
If not, then he might as well take a position as chairman of the task force for TLC permanently, for if he raises the E60 million, he will be requiring another before the end of the year.
Of course, we all know, this is wishful, although with very good intentions. His colleagues in Cabinet need to remind him that there have been many ministers before him who can provide him with a quick solution to this – and that is, to fix the Central Medical Stores.
And now that we are working to save TLC, perhaps the conversation over the privatisation of the Medical Stores will be easy to put on the table, which is what many have said has been the plan all along.
Perhaps that is what TLC ought to be asked to do for this country, and that is to borrow their system for the use of drugs procurement and supply. That won’t be bad for a E60m venture.
For now though, good luck to the team. I will see them in two weeks.
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