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Microscopic view on the medical field is called for
2006-07-23 10:15:54
By Peter Msungu
Much dust was kicked off recently, over the ban on the importation into the country, of Chinese medicine that was deemed inappropriate.
As non-medics, we are not competent to pass judgement on the merits or demerits of the decision.
Medicine is sensitive, as it is closely related to human health and very life, by way of treating the sick, keeping death at bay; or, at the other extreme, worsening the condition of patients who may die.
We have no quarrel, then, when, in their wisdom, health and medical experts deem particular drugs ineffective, are sources of harmful side effects or life-threatening, and decide to withdraw them from pharmaceutical outlets, or block their entry into the local market.
Our concern, however, is the piece-meal trend in campaigns, decisions or measures related to the health and medical sectors.
When a particular drug raises eyebrows due to real or presumed risks, it attracts tough moves or decisions.
This is as well; only that for tangible benefits, the whole sector has to be thoroughly examined subjected to microscopic observation, to use medical language to purge it of undesirable, risky, life-threatening elements.
Are all drugs on the shelves of pharmacies appropriate, within set shelf-life time frames, and are prescribed and dispensed appropriately ?
Do the clinics, health centres, dispensaries, and hospitals that are literally mushrooming in residential locations meet the due criteria in terms of physical facilities, technical equipment, drug stocks and professional, competent staff ?
A particular tablet, as part of a given combination, may be first class as a malaria cure, but when, due to ignorance, carelessness or sheer mischief, it is taken or given to a child in a wrong dosage, it may lead to fatality.
An operation even such a simple one as stitching someone cut by a piece of glass conducted by an amateur, who, nonetheless, uses appropriate surgical appliances, may lead to serious complications that may culminate in death.
A hospital’s environment, architectural design and interior setting may give it the outlook of a high-class tourist hotel, but if some of its nurses are of dubious professional status, they may create a medical mess.
How about the scores of traditional medical practitioners of all kinds, some branding themselves doctors and professors, who project themselves and are projected by others, as life-savers?
Do all of them fit the description ? Are all their herbs, barks, syrups and powdery concoctions safe, or are some of them poisonous and thus life silencers ?
Outlawing a particular drug, once after every so often, is thus not good enough. As proposed earlier, the health-medical field needs a thorough microscopic examination and appropriate actions based on the findings.
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