Sometimes in life one needs medical help. Now when you are ill, there is a problem: which doctor to go to? What is his professional record? How can you trust him? There are no known statistics available by which to judge the different practitioners. It is much like buying the ‘cat in the bag.’

If you are lucky, all is okay, but if you are not, the suffering starts and the undertaker starts smiling. In a modern country and in the year 2012, one should be able to know whom to choose. Selecting your doctor and hospital should be done through a transparent system and the system should be in favor of the patient, not the doctor. The same goes for the various hospitals. There are no statistics available regarding the performance of doctors and hospitals and no one is prepared to give you honest advice. All you are able to get is the advice of your neighbor and that advice may (and most of the time it certainly is) highly skewed, even dangerous. Our medical system is just not good enough, because the patient seems to be the least important part of it. Obviously, money has taken over. Money dictates. Doctors and hospitals may chase you away from their doorstep if you are unable to pay the exorbitant fees asked by them, fees that do not correspond to the economic and social facts in impoverished Namibia. It is all about money, nothing else and therefore it is all wrong! And if the expensive treatment was a nasty flop, do you think you get your money back, or even part of it? Don’t be naïve. That will not happen. There should be open, published performance-lists of the hospitals and medical practitioners so that every one in need of medical help is able to select the right one. Not only will this be good for the patient, but it will, over time, also bring about the urgently-needed improvement in the business of healing people, even of animals. Few would select a poorly-performing doctor or hospital and those practitioners or hospitals not at the top of the list will certainly have to improve or drop out of business.  Such a policy would stop the known rot in state hospitals. It would help to do away with the practice of throwing big money at non-performing institutions and would keep the practitioners keen and up-to-date. Measuring the performance of hospitals, of hospital staff and of all doctors is the only key to success. Measuring the quality of services would save the nation, its government and the ordinary citizen lots of money. It would also save lives and reduce unnecessary pain.

Katie Justine Hansman
Katutura