MERITON’S KNEE JERK REACTION

One of the fundamental issues facing Seychelles today and in the long term is its limited supply of trained professionals. This is particularly evident in the Ministry of Health.

There is clear irrefutable evidence of qualified health professionals leaving the country in search of better prospects elsewhere. The Ministry has to a degree recognised this dilemma and some changes have or are being introduced in an effort to retain health professionals in Seychelles.

These changes are by and large cosmetic in nature and do not hit at the heart of the problem. Increasing salaries or gratuities is not necessarily the solution. The problem is far more entrenched than that.

The health services are substantially, under funded and the funding is not always used as effectively as it should. Hospitals were built or refurbished some years ago by using borrowed money from International Financial Institutions like the African Development Bank among others. These loans are still being paid back, often in arrears and under penalty for late payment sanctions.

The loans themselves do not provide, as the lender’s policy dictate, for ongoing maintenance of the facilities. This duty rests with the government and thus the Ministry of Health. One only has to take a short tour through our Health facilities, to recognise that maintenance of buildings and equipment is not being adequately done.

Similarly, there is a dire shortage of qualified professionals. Doctors, nurses and technicians are placed under extreme stresses coping with double loads. Seychelles supplements this shortage with expatriate doctors, who, themselves are less than adequately paid. Never mind the problem relating to language and culture barriers. The situation is further exacerbated because many overseas trained Seychellois health professionals (the same applies to teachers), refuse to return to Seychelles following their studies.

Recently, there was an unfortunate and regrettable occurrence at Victoria Hospital (and not for the first time as there was a case a few years ago, where a young child died following surgery because of complications relating to either medication or equipment failure). Our hearts certainly go out to the families affected by such tragedies. It is not unrealistic to assume that it must be the wish of every Seychellois that such incidents never occur. We must however, realistically reflect on the situation and where necessary take appropriate action.

A knee jerk reaction of dismissing or canceling the contracts of the officers (two of the four were cancelled) responsible for maintenance of the equipment was not the most effective way of dealing with the situation. High-level health technicians like Doctors are specialists within their respective domains. This country has expended countless millions in training these officers. Replacements are not readily available.

Mistakes may have been made, but should we deny further work in their specialised field to these officers because of an error in judgment. Rather, let us examine more closely, the reasons for the ‘apparent’ failure of these officers to act as was required of them. Several questions need to be posed: was the equipment old or worn out or faulty or did it simply breakdown at the most inappropriate moment? Was there adequate funding for maintenance of the equipment? Importantly, was the staff so occupied with many other duties that this type of maintenance received a lower priority? Was there sufficient staff employed to cope with the workload? Are effective written down procedures (checks as they do in airlines) established to avert such a situation? Does the hospital have adequate insurance coverage in matters relating to staff negligence?

Finding sacrificial lambs in order to appease the community and ease the public’s growing concern with the state of our health services, may not have been the wisest choice that was made.