Privilege, Not A Right

There are plenty of things in this great country that we take for granted. May it be the clean air we breathe, water we drink or our access to quality food.

There are also many institutions that we take for granted. They are being abused (I’d consider the use of a stronger word like molested), and kicked whilst down. In particular there is our health system, schools, emergency services and welfare. Granted these institutions are rampant with inefficient bureaucratic administrations but perhaps if they were paid a tad more respect they might be able to provide a better service.

The community at large should feel privileged to live in a country that provides these services and there presence is not a ‘right’ at all.

Out health care is very advanced in comparison to most countries in the world. We have some of the best doctors working right here. They work hard to diagnose sick people and rescue them from potentially life threatening situations. Yet unreasonable demands are placed on them. People want to be seen by one as soon as they step foot into a hospital. Not going to happen. Imagine if they only had to deal with genuinely sick people.

Our schools are affordable and accessible. Last time I checked the only cost that a parent must pay for a child in a state school was slightly over $100 a year, and that is voluntary. This is a joke, as people want value in their child’s education yet is unwilling to pay anything for it. One news story in Queensland had a parent stating that her son had a right to a ‘free’ education. Rubbish!! Your son is PRIVILEGED to have access to such affordable education. Somehow there are people who can’t pay the voluntary contribution. Can’t or won’t? For a few dollars a week per child I would be thanking God that it is only that much.

There are multiple emergency services ready to respond at a moment’s notice. Yet services are being clogged up by non-emergency cases. Ambulances are being sent to minor ailments where people would be better served to visit their local doctor. Police are sent to small fracas because people are just too angry and frustrated over the latest media induced panic. Fire Fighters are sent to motor vehicle accidents to mop up leaking fuels, but if people were more patient on the roads then most accidents would be avoidable.

Our welfare system is very generous. Some would say too generous. Working folk are left to wonder why we bother when it seems so easy to get some form of government benefit. Unfortunately there’s not a government ‘courageous’ enough to change the system and make it harder to obtain. This could possibly result in a loss at the next election. But since when did people know what was best for the country.

So people, look after these otherwise they might not be there when you need them the most.

Education En Masse

Where there’s a will there’s a way. People need to learn how to correctly utilise health services. If only this blog had mass appeal.

Generally speaking we all have a “want it now” attitude. As in I’m sick now and want it fixed now. Anyone who has had the flu, for example, will know you can be sick for a full week, perhaps more. There is rarely such a thing as an immediate fix.

Some learn the hard way by having to wait in a boring, drafty, uncomfortable hospital waiting room for 5 hours or more before getting a bed, or told to go home and rest.

People want to see a doctor straight away and think that coming in by ambulance will achieve that. Truth is that a cardiac chest pain by own transport will always beat the vomiting on an ambulance stretcher.

One man recently thought that he would get immediate treatment and attention from a doctor when he arrived via ambulance. When ushered to the waiting room, with his minor bout of vomiting, he complained to the clerk then the nursing manager. He got his marching orders by security for being abusive to staff.

Unless you are in a really bad way (i.e. life threatening) then you will have to wait for a doctor. The doctor/patient ratio is nowhere near 1:1.

Most of the time for those with minor ailments it would be quicker and better for them to take some rest and see their GP in the morning. But for some reason people are too quick to get worked up over these minor ailments and then the act of getting worked up becomes the ailment.

If people just took a reality check and considered their condition against all the other people in hospital then perhaps our health system would work a bit better. Or perhaps our health is set up perfectly for the results it is getting.

Letters to Jim Main #7

Perplexing Programming (22/7/09)

Dear Jim
A lot of people have written to you with valid gripes about the standard of AFL telecasting in NSW and Quensland and I cannot understand how putting on a dodgy movie works better for the network. Does a network really earn more in advertising that way? Or does it cost too much to relay the "live" feed to Sydney and Brisbane? I am not in the Tv business, so I have no idea of their motivation for such decisions. However I figure that if they spend so much to get the broadcasting rights they might as well show their product, especially as the price is expected to rise with the introduction of two new teams.

Jim Main says:
There is so much disquiet, even anger, over this that something must be done.

A Real Stimulus

I received my group certificate and immediately reflected on the post by Dr H titled “Government Stimulus Impossible”. Referring of course to the stimulus packages that aim to reverse the effects of the global financial crisis (GFC) in Australia.

Dr H uses economically sound logic to explain why these stimulus packages won’t work and why their effect on the GFC will be negligible at best.

I have felt that the stimulus packages are more of a vote grab. Our selfish materialistic culture falls for the bait and sees only dollar signs while failing to see the bigger picture or the long-term outlook.

Inspect your own group certificate. Mine said that I was paid $55,000 gross and was taxed $11,000. Yet Rudd gives me $900 and expects me to be happy and go on a spending spree. How about cutting the taxes altogether, stop stealing my hard earned for useless spending sprees. It might win votes but will most likely have no effect on the GFC whatsoever.

Make some tough decisions instead of popular ones: cut taxes, cut spending, cut regulation.

Subsidies Decline

I read with interest a story in the Daily Telegraph about government subsidies being reduced for call outs and transports from Ambulance services (‘Cheaper to catch a taxi to hospital’ – 7/7/09).

A supposed “price hike” even though patients will only pay just above 50% of the fees, up approximately $200 for transport. Most of our patients are the elderly who have pension cards that cover the costs anyway.

The state Liberal Party are getting caught in the trap of objecting for the sake of it, even though it would match their ideology of small government.

We should be grateful that the ambulance service has been that affordable. Perhaps a price hike, as the media calls it, would make people think twice before calling an ambulance for trivial reasons.

The public expect so much from the government and they take as much as they can. The ambulance service is being taken for granted like every other health service. Perhaps a bill sent in the mail will open people’s eyes to the “real” costs of good health and find out that it doesn’t come freely.