HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: Doctors’ pick n’ mix

Soba Teaching Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org)

A Health Care System is, by definition, the organization of people, institutions, and resources that deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations. I am serious, I know it sounds crazy and weird but I swear I didn’t make this definition up. If you don’t believe me go check Wikipedia or visit any hospital outside of Sudan. Then you will get to know that the relationship between Sudan and the health care system is like the relationship between a cat and chopsticks.

Considering that there is almost no health, no care and no system at all outside of Khartoum, therefore the health care system must have concentrated efforts in the capital, and Khartoum must have very good hospitals and medical facilities. Wrong. Its is not the case in most cases. In fact, like many other people, I used to watch ER and Scrubs and say wow, it’s a TV show but look how are they saving patients; wow, good job on treating this case; look how they dress, how clean how organized. Then something bad happened, I went to work in Khartoum governmental hospitals.

I have seen a doctor sleeping in a patient’s bed and the patient sleeping on the ground with his family; a patient inside an operating theater and the operation was stopped because the blood bank guy was having breakfast somewhere. I have seen not only flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches but i have also seen animals, dogs, cats, rats and even a monkey inside the hospital. I have seen doctors with slippers, a female doctor leaving an emergency case to go on the phone and greet someone, “Ooo, Mushtageen;” and I have seen many other things that can only be seen in hospitals in Sudan.

One of the phrases that I hate is “Yomo Tamma,” which translates into “His day has come.” Yes I know everyone has a certain day to die but come on, you can’t shoot someone in the head, stab him in the heart and say “Sorry, Yomo Tamma.” Yes, that was his day, but you were the cause. I know that the salary of a Chinese guy working in a shoe factory in Chongching is probably a little more than double the pay of a Sudanese experienced doctor and the only reason doctors are actually practicing medicine is because they have nothing else to do; but what is the point of working at all if you are going to be picky? “Almost dead, I will not take this case”, “sever condition, nope”, “This patient looks like trouble, we won’t take responsibility”, “refer.” Cause of death is not usually due to complication of disease, I’m pretty sure most are DDA cases (Death Due to Anger), or in local language “Mat za3la”, which can also hit even the healthiest people around. Then you hear the word “Yomo tamma“, oh, really? Thanks for telling me. Not mentioning that, in a lot of cases, the family still have to pay the hospital for their services, basically for helping the patient die.

Dear doctors of Sudan, patients are not food, you can’t pick what you like and throw the rest. Dear Health care System, change.