Commentary: A moral test for St Lucia is justice in healthcare

(MENAFN- Caribbean News Now) By Harvey Cenac

Our healthcare system in Saint Lucia is far from perfect, and therefore worth arguing that our healthcare services need a major overhaul, much like the current United Workers Party (UWP) administration.

Moreover, our healthcare system has reached a point of such calamity that the citizens of our great nation should call a traveling band for members of parliament who wish to travel for medical purposes and other healthcare-related matters; until such time that St Jude Hospital is certified by the appropriate authority and is open and operational by a specific date; and significant steps are taken to address the healthcare crisis facing Saint Lucia.

The dispensation of healthcare has become a profession of injustice which may have likely sprung up from corruption and greed at the expense of the poor and the most vulnerable in Saint Lucia. Whatever the case, it is immoral for any government to deny inherent fairness and basic human rights of its citizens, in contravention of the United Nations human rights charter.

One must understand that the basis of healthcare has its foundation in a theological motif that is rooted in love and benevolence. This has always been the motivation that has shaped healthcare. In other words, it has been a theological concept of justice that our healthcare system has been based on until recently.

With this in mind, I call upon the faith communities: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarianism, and others to recognize the need for justice as both divine and humanitarian and thus their extensive and necessary involvement in the national discussion.

Furthermore, of greater plausibility is that a social outlook on justice in healthcare serves as a regulative notion to frame the parameters for the development of policies for a modern system of healthcare that will better serve Saint Lucia.

In other words, the faith communities and civil society organizations must stand up against an unjust administration in Saint Lucia, that is treating the health of its citizens and in particular the poor, rather inhumanly. This is an immoral pursuit that we can no longer overlook and thus we cannot continue to stand aside and watch our brothers and sisters die at the hands of an unjust healthcare system.

We need an effective healthcare system that is accessible to all Saint Lucians. As the famous civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. said; "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."

To that end, the principle of justice is a moral test for our institution of government. A healthcare system which lies in the virtue of compassion and gives rise to the intrinsic value of all Saint Lucians, regardless of economic status, is instrumental to human welfare and becomes an instrument of justice.

On the contrary, the non-moral consideration that is currently demonstrated in Saint Lucia's healthcare systems proves that our political system, governance, and character is based on self-interest, corruption, and injustice.

Therefore, to develop best practices and an excellent healthcare system, we must understand the divine and human side to healthcare, and demand that no government should treat the poor and the most vulnerable in society with disdain.

The institution of government right now in Saint Lucia is in direct contrast to the basic tenants of the United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights and/or serving the needs of the working class.

More importantly, a recognition of best practices and excellence in healthcare warrants a need for justice to make our healthcare system better.

We as Saint Lucians, should not be afraid to stand on the side of justice because these values are in line with our divine values. For only when we do that which is right and just for the least in our society, will our nation prosper!

Let us do that which is right and just – Healthcare Accessibility for All.

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