Extra funds for healing

HOSPITAL overcrowding is a frequent occurrence at Sri Lanka’s beleaguered hospitals. Many a time patients are left on the uncomfortable floor due to the unavailability of beds and treatment is sparse even for those who can afford better services. Therefore the Health Minister’s decision to establish paying wards at all main hospitals countrywide can be viewed in a positive light.   

Many patients who can afford private hospitals would prefer to lodge in public ones because they believe that the care that they get will be better at public institutions. For them the feeling is that although the facilities may be limited, access to the best doctors can be had at public hospitals than at private ones. Also on an ethical level the idea is that public hospitals, since they only stand to lose unless they cure a patient and send him home in the best of health as soon as possible, can therefore be more trustworthy than their private counterparts that earn more money on long staying patients.

The arguments become heated when a person’s life is at stake. What cannot be denied is that there are many competent doctors who can treat patients of medium income levels at public institutions; these opportunities are limited because the more affluent people prefer to gravitate towards private hospitals. When observing the long lines at all channelling outlets it is obvious that private hospitals are immensely popular but it is questionable whether their level of service is necessarily higher. Also, the penetration of private hospitals is mostly limited to urbanised areas and the reach of rural healthcare depends solely on public hospitals.

Since the government only plans to have paying wards in the main hospitals the possibility that they will affect the “market” of private hospitals is highly unlikely. However they do have the opportunity to provide more services to people from rural areas. When the Health Ministry begins their first paying ward out of Colombo in August in Ampara the stage will be set for quality healthcare services to reach untapped parts of the country.

It would be foolish to suppose that all people in areas outside of Colombo are poor. Therefore the next question would be how medical services can be widespread enough to absorb these paying patients and funnel the funds to assist the people who cannot. Instead of widening the rich and poor gap this measure can actually bridge the difference provided the health ministry is sharp enough to understand its relevance and establish mechanisms to redirect money to rural hospitals. In such a manner the paying wards can assist in giving better healthcare to those in normal wards.

Given the track record of the Health Ministry that just a few days ago was caught mismanaging drug supplies that resulted in delays and substandard medication being imported into the country, the chances for successful implementation of this latest decision are not heartening. However the fact that funding is a main hurdle to providing quality services in public hospitals is a known fact, which money earned from paying wards can mitigate to a certain extent. Thus there is all the more impetus for the Health Ministry to get its act together and work for the benefit of the people. New policies are of little use if they are not implemented properly and their benefits brought to the right people.