Politicians’ health

November 11, 2014, 8:03 pm 

Every passing day in this ‘democratic, socialist republic’ reminds us of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, Animal Farm. It may be a scathing attack on Stalin’s Russia but it is of some relevance to ours as well in that it is about how pigs become more equal than other animals through political manoeuvring.

Politicians never miss an opportunity to pontificate to us about the virtues of social equality and make themselves out to be servants of the people as the late Ranasinghe Premadasa pretended to be. But, they lay bare their true faces once in a way.

There has been a call for increasing MPs’ health insurance cover from Rs. 250,000 to 350,000 and developing the medical centre at the parliamentary complex so that laboratory tests also can be done there. Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga has said parliamentarians have to seek treatment at private hospitals as the state-run hospitals are congested. Why can’t they visit the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital, which is only a stone’s throw away from Parliament?

Nobody should grudge MPs better healthcare facilities. They are all honourable men and women! But, the question is how they propose to provide better health care to their voters left with no alternative but to visit the state-run health care institutions and wait in winding queues. Tens of thousands of patients needing life-saving surgical interventions have been waitlisted for months if not years. Newspapers are full of heartrending appeals for public assistance for seriously ill patients.

The UNP and the SLFP or coalitions led by them have ruled this country since Independence and the blame for the rot in the public sector institutions including hospitals should be apportioned to them. It is not out of altruism that they have maintained the free health care and education systems; they do not want to incur the wrath of the people and be booted out of power by trying to scrap them.

Meanwhile, state expenditure on free education and free heath care is no charity but a worthwhile investment as any economist knows in spite of attempts being made in some quarters to make it out to be useless public spending which hampers economic development. For, such welfare measures help produce a healthy, educated workforce if they are properly managed with adequate funds made available for that purpose. Moreover, they have also stood the private sector in good stead in that they help keep the cost of labour low. If the people are deprived of free healthcare and education facilities, they will demand higher salaries which will take a heavy toll on their employers’ profits. Welfare cuts always aggravate unrest among the low income groups and their resentment finds expression in street riots fraught with the danger of threatening political stability, which is a prerequisite for economic development. The role played by social welfare expenditure as a great leveller cannot be overemphasised. True, it is the taxpayers’ money that is spent on free health and free education but the benefits far outweigh the costs. Hence, the onus is on any government, be it SLFP or UNP, to develop those two services.

That parliamentarians have had to admit that the state-run hospitals cannot cater to the increasing demand for healthcare and are, therefore, congested is a self-indictment. Politicians seek treatment at government hospitals only when they get remanded!

The inevitable outcome of people’s representatives and other influential sections of society not seeking treatment at government hospitals is the further deterioration of those institutions with only the voiceless low income groups dependent on them for want of a better alternative.

The best way politicians can remain healthy is to stop gormandizing at the expense of taxpayers and change their lifestyles. Food rich in oil, salt and sugar is mostly responsible for the prevalence of NCDs (non communicable diseases) and it is high time they cut down on their food intake and exercised themselves. They can make use of the jogging tracks the government has built in some parts of the country.