Health care system should be designed for all
February 3rd, 2009
By Sim Socheata (the Cambodia Daily)
On Jan 15, the Cambodia Daily carried out the news item, Ministry Seeks Autonomy for State Hospitals(page 27). I wonder how the Cambodian population takes this news. Personally, I have a lot of concerns of what this plan might lead to.
The Ministry of Health data for 2007 estimated that Cambodia's total per capital health expenditure was $37, comprising about 8 percent of GDP. The majority of this amount comes from peoples' own pockets and health care expenditures in our country are borne largely by ordinary people.
The government through Ministry of Health has tried hard to improve the health system and health care delivery with very limited resources, but Cambodia's health care system remains one of the poorest in the region.
The government needs to find ways to improve the health system, but the plan of autonomy for state hospitals may not be the solution. We can look at two previous experiences of autonomy: electricity (EdC) and the water supply. In both cases, the poor had to pay cash to access services which are supposed to be provided by the stare at subsidized prices, and this created additional burden on the poor.
In the health sector, we can also draw an example from Calamette Hospital, which has been autonomously run since 1996. Everyone who walks into this hospital must have money to pay. Otherwise they walk out carrying their plan and sickness back home. Due to this fact, we cannot state hospitals will bring better health care services for everyone. More likely, service delivery conditions will become worse especially for the poor, and they will be unable to access health care.
The Constitutions states that Poor people are assured to have free access to public health service. To ensure this, the Cambodian government must have enough resources to subsidize its public health system through increased budget allocations to the health sector. This includes providing appropriate salaries for doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers and developing proper mechanisms to enhance the quality of health care services. In addition, the government should consider advocating to donors to give more aid to the health sector through a government-managed public health system, which is the only way sustain a health care system that is accessible to the poor.
As a Cambodian citizen, I strongly urge our government to pay serious attention to developing proper mechanisms for a functioning health system in order to ensure that every citizen enjoys their right to health.
By Sim Socheata (the Cambodia Daily)
On Jan 15, the Cambodia Daily carried out the news item, Ministry Seeks Autonomy for State Hospitals(page 27). I wonder how the Cambodian population takes this news. Personally, I have a lot of concerns of what this plan might lead to.
The Ministry of Health data for 2007 estimated that Cambodia's total per capital health expenditure was $37, comprising about 8 percent of GDP. The majority of this amount comes from peoples' own pockets and health care expenditures in our country are borne largely by ordinary people.
The government through Ministry of Health has tried hard to improve the health system and health care delivery with very limited resources, but Cambodia's health care system remains one of the poorest in the region.
The government needs to find ways to improve the health system, but the plan of autonomy for state hospitals may not be the solution. We can look at two previous experiences of autonomy: electricity (EdC) and the water supply. In both cases, the poor had to pay cash to access services which are supposed to be provided by the stare at subsidized prices, and this created additional burden on the poor.
In the health sector, we can also draw an example from Calamette Hospital, which has been autonomously run since 1996. Everyone who walks into this hospital must have money to pay. Otherwise they walk out carrying their plan and sickness back home. Due to this fact, we cannot state hospitals will bring better health care services for everyone. More likely, service delivery conditions will become worse especially for the poor, and they will be unable to access health care.
The Constitutions states that Poor people are assured to have free access to public health service. To ensure this, the Cambodian government must have enough resources to subsidize its public health system through increased budget allocations to the health sector. This includes providing appropriate salaries for doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers and developing proper mechanisms to enhance the quality of health care services. In addition, the government should consider advocating to donors to give more aid to the health sector through a government-managed public health system, which is the only way sustain a health care system that is accessible to the poor.
As a Cambodian citizen, I strongly urge our government to pay serious attention to developing proper mechanisms for a functioning health system in order to ensure that every citizen enjoys their right to health.
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