For those of you who weren't able to read my Pensioners Platform column article in the October-November 2014 edition of the Torbay Times, here it is in full:-
FROM 14 to 30 September
I was on holiday near Chiclana in southern Spain and during my stay I came into
contact with a number of British ex-patriots, all of whom retired to Spain some
years ago. Without exception, they all agreed that life in Spain for them is
very agreeable indeed, and they were unanimous in their praise for the Spanish
healthcare system. In fact, several of them remarked on the overall superiority
of Spain’s healthcare services when compared to our own NHS.
The Beach near Chiclana, Spain
That got me thinking,
so I started to do some research, and this is what I found. Spain’s General
Health Law of 1986 was formulated on two principles: 1) it carries out a
mandate of the Spanish Constitution whose Articles 43 and 49 establish the
right of all citizens to protection of their health, and 2) the Law recognises
a right to health services for all citizens and for foreigners resident in
Spain.
In many respects, these
principles appear to mirror the spirit of our own National Health Service which
– judging from near-daily news reports in the British media – seems to be
struggling in comparison with Spain’s National Health System. But why should
that be? After all, it is well documented that Spain currently has one of the
weakest economies in Europe, but here in the United Kingdom we’re constantly
being told that our economy is the strongest in the European Union.
Very soon after my
return home, I came across a News item which, I believe, goes some way to explaining
why our NHS and many of the UK’s other public services are in such a sorry
state when compared to some of our European neighbours.
Let me
explain: as recently as October 2, Westminster MPs claimed that the
government’s decision to cut direct aid to Liberia and Sierra Leone, “May have contributed
to the Ebola epidemic” that has claimed more than 3000 lives. In fact, the
chair of parliament’s International Development Committee, Sir Malcolm Bruce, is reported to have said the scale of the outbreak, “May well be connected to declining levels
of international support for health system improvements” in those
two West African nations. Note the word “may” appears twice in the above
quotes. That means both comments are based on assumption rather than undisputed
fact.
More telling,
perhaps, is what else emerged from that same committee’s deliberations. The MPs
went-on to criticise the Department for International Development and the EU
for failing to address the fact that aid intended for Liberia’s health sector
was misappropriated! The committee found that only $3.9 million (£2.4 million)
of the $60 million (£37 million) donated was transferred from Liberia’s Finance
Ministry to the Health Ministry.
So what happened to
the remaining £34.6 million, a substantial amount of which came straight from
the UK tax-payers pockets? Regrettably, instead of pursuing that very important
question, the committee of MPs decided to make a couple of party political
statements. Firstly they said, “In the
midst of this devastating epidemic … it is wrong for the UK to cut its support
to these two countries by nearly a fifth.” Sir Malcom Bruce then added, “The planned termination of further UK
funding to the Liberian health sector is especially unwise.”
While the Ebola outbreak in Africa is both tragic and alarming, shouldn’t
our MPs be more concerned with the shortcomings in the UK’s own health care
system? For example, they could be asking how many UK pensioners (and others)
are going to go cold and hungry this coming winter? And how many will die from
the effects of hypothermia and/or malnutrition? Whatever the number, we’re
unlikely to be told because it wouldn’t be politically expedient for such
statistics to be made public.
But let’s forget political expediency. Surely it’s time to stop acting
like a global benefactor and, instead, start putting our own house in order? Up
to now, our politicians have been profligate with the taxes we pay, by throwing
billions into a black hole in the name of overseas aid. Ominously, some of the
recipients of that overseas aid are corrupt and the cash disappears, only to
reappear in the form of flashy motor cars and ostentatious mansions.
While all that is going-on, our treasured National Health Service and
other vital UK public services creak at the seams and lurch alarmingly towards
Third World standards. So, isn’t it about time charity really did begin at home
again?
