Day 333: Healthcare Industry Does Not Care About Health

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298331/Foreign-private-patients-pay-tens-thousands-pounds-livers-donated-NHS.html

Scarce donor organs meant for NHS patients are being sold to wealthy foreigners for tens of  thousands of pounds.

A leading hospital has confirmed that 19 private overseas patients bought donated livers in the past two years.

Such organs are in short supply. Of the 550 NHS patients waiting for a liver, one in six is expected to die before they can get a transplant.

But since 2011, King’s College Hospital in London has  given livers to patients from Greece, Cyprus, Kuwait, Libya and Dubai.

The trust is likely to have been paid around £1million for all the transplants, but it refused to disclose how much it received for them individually.

Although experts have condoned the practice as ‘morally wrong’, it is not illegal because the Government does not believe it prevents NHS patients from having transplants.

The Department of Health has refused to implement a ban – ignoring the advice of a specially commissioned taskforce – and claims organ donations are increasing. - Mail Online

Good healthcare goes to those who can pay the hefty rates - this is simply a fact of life as we know it. I cannot name any country that has better public than private healthcare, although it is plausible that there is/are some good public hospital(s) somewhere in the world - I'll believe it when I see it.

South Africa has a very equality-oriented constitution, among the top in the world - but this constitution does not enforce the rights it lays down, no. One can easily see this upon entry into the country. There is no such thing as equal rights here, only more expensive rights and less expensive rights. The public hospitals are appalling and are more likely to kill you than cure you. Public hospital staff are entitled, incompetent, unsympathetic and downright dangerous most of the time (I suppose that's only marginally worse than the private hospital staff, but definitely still not first choice). If you get sick in South Africa, you'd best have good (expensive) health insurance or a buttload of money if you hope to live.

Sure, you could get medical aid (health insurance, whatever) but only the wealthy can afford that, so if you're poor then public hospital it must be.

I find this medical system of ours to be utterly perverse - having to pay for something as basic and universally required as good healthcare is abominable. (Gee, kinda sounds like everything else in our stupid system). That there is even a distinction between "good" healthcare and "not so good" healthcare is disgusting.

But, you know what they say: money can buy you pretty much anything. Ok maybe they don't say it, but I just did so it must be true. You may be a terrible person, but if you have money you can outlive any penniless saint.

Healthcare isn't about health, it's about competition - and the winner is always the one with the most money...