(Banana Peddler is a media professional)
I have been wondering why rich Kenyans seek treatment abroad at the first sign of illness but I now know.
Three days ago, a friend of mine who is also a banana seller lost his wife to a Kenyan doctor in a Kenyan Referral Hospital. The poor lady died after receiving no attention for close to 23 hours.
When she arrived at the hospital, there were arguments among nurses on who should attend to her some denying her the much-needed help because the night shift had started. It was almost time for them to go home while other nurses were busy updating their status on social media.
A young doctor who could have saved her emerged and started asking a barrage of irrelevant questions until she got fatigued and gave up the ghost.
On several occasions, I have made references to the incompetence of some doctors found in our hospitals as well as the attitude of hospital workers including pharmacists, nurses, receptionists and cleaners who treat patients like criminals.
The problem all boils down to our systems which allow people who do not qualify to take medicine to pursue it and graduate. Until 20-25 years ago, it was difficult for more than half of the class to qualify and graduate.
These days though, no one fails an exam or repeats a course because of corruption and sexual favours in exchange for grades. No one cares about the Hippocratic Oath anymore.
With deaths stemming from neglect in our hospitals, it is a sign that we are paying for the sins of the exam cheating that we encouraged.
As parents, we gave out money that bought all the papers that were supposed to be taken by our children in KCSE in advance and as a result, they “passed with flying colours” and got admitted into campus.
It is our “exam cheating” graduates that have made poor engineers, poor doctors and poor journalists and poor teachers.
Before 1965 cases of buildings collapsing were rare but today our “tested” and “trusted” engineers are performing miracles using sub-standard building materials at sites that are obviously supervised by bribe-seeking civil servants.
Things are already worse in the much-touted media industry where half-baked editors are running the show.
Perhaps, the killing of my friend’s wife by Kenyan doctors does not matter but in truth, we are in one way or another, paying the price of incompetence and corruption.
When mediocrity takes the place of meritocracy, standards are compromised.
Parents who encourage their children to cheat during exams should be prepared to condone them when they become armed robbers.
Let those greedy people who value money more than their fellow humans get ready to be buried by their money someday when they die.
#hivisasaoriginal