Real health issues being ignored

THE EDITOR: It seems that both doctors and the public are being misguided about health issues in the twin island Republic. The medical profession ( a minority or a majority?) and the Minister of Health are locked in some kind of power struggle regarding the suitability of Cuban doctors for employment in the Government Medical Services. Sadly, while this painful labour continues, many of the more crucial and long-term issues are being sidelined by both parties.

One can mention just one — the inevitable far-reaching, long-term adverse effects on the junk food and soft drinks being advertised to the uninformed public and the innocent children of all ages. It is only a myopic administration (certainly not one with 20/20 vision) that can ignore the consequences to the current and future health of the nation which will inevitably result from the lifestyle encouraged by vested interests in the community. Countries years in advance of us are addressing the problem aggressively. And I quote from some aspects of this approach by the Australian government and the EU. “Australian government moves to tackle the health issues caused by the one in five children who are obese....a million overweight children in Australia who were under the tremendous influence of those making commercials.....99 percent of television food commercials during children’s viewing periods were for sweets and drinks of little nutritional value....the proliferation of junk food that’s sprung up in this country because as a society we will be paying the price in health in years to come....an interim report shows that children under 10 who have obese parents have more than double the risk of becoming obese adults than their peers with average weight parents. In older obese adolescents the figure may be as high as 78 percent....physical activity and active play among children has declined considerably in the past ten years.

Does all this sound familiar? We already know the effects of obesity, and we must be aware of the epidemic of diabetes, high blood pressure and their dreadful complications. The gimmick of giving “free (cheap) drugs” to the elderly is akin to setting your house on fire and using a garden hose to douse the remaining burning embers. Our administration must not keep the voters ignorant of the impending disaster that will certainly befall the country in the coming years when there will be increasing numbers of sick (and unproductive) people. How does a country survive when less and less of its citizens are working to provide for more and more sick and disabled? No country will ever have the financial or medical resources to manage the monumental task of treating a sick nation, of spending the vast sums required for the increasingly expensive medical technology. The problems must therefore be confronted now, and there will be many toes to tread on. But neither the Administration nor the Medical Profession can shirk their responsibility.

DR B CHAPMAN BOYD
Arima