Africa-Press – Zambia. On Sunday morning, yesterday as I drove along Chikwa road, towards the Addis Ababa roundabout, my attention was drawn to the outer lane where a number of cars had parked, with desperate motorists and pedestrians surrounding a convulsing young man.
As a medical doctor compelled by the Hippocratic oath to save lives, l immediately parked by and joined the gallant citizens frantically trying to help the patient. I was quickly identified as a doctor and given leeway to lead the roadside response.
A few minutes later, the patient stopped fitting and regained consciousness. He then told his story:” l am epileptic; however l haven’t taken medication for five days; l am walking home to John Laing, from levy Mwanawasa hospital where l went this morning, to seek care and medication; however l was just given a prescription to buy medicine; l don’t have any money; so l was walking home.”
I thanked the gallant citizens for the Ubuntu spirit they exhibited to aid a desperate citizen who would have otherwise been bashed while convulsing. Yes l drove away with the patient a nearest drug store and the rest, as they, is history.
The following questions beg our honest answers as a collective: How many citizens are convulsing, injuring themselves or falling in fires and burning or dying? How many other chronic patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, HIV/AIDS, etc, are suffering quietly or dying prematurely without getting the help from our hospitals.
For how long will the persistent drug shortages be ignored by Government; is life as sacred under this UPND regime which seems obsessed with political point-scoring?
The sanctity of life is inviolable under any circumstances and I therefore urge government to abandon their cruel state of denial and deal with drugs crisis immediately. Zambia is indeed fitting; it is in a catatonic state and requires urgent remedial measures.
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