I have written about this in the past, but I remain very concerned that the goal of having a healthier nation continues to elude us.
When it comes to our health, the dollar figures become ever larger as we hold on to the view that more must be better. While our rapidly expanding population does create additional demand, any sage observer must surely be wondering if the current ‘model’ is in need of some new thinking.
Back in 1998 taxpayers forked out $6 billion for health, but now just over 28 years later in 2021 we are spending four times that amount $24 billion. This colossal sum amounts to nearly $68 million every day. Despite this massive expenditure, the waiting lists for surgery grow and demand for health care services is outstripping our ability to keep paying. It seems to me that our health system itself is sick. I wonder how anyone could think that we could anticipate a different outcome by simply doing more of what we have always done. The reason that our hospitals are filled to overflowing is that we have ever increasing numbers of sick people.
Quite plainly if our objective by spending $68 million every day is to have a healthier nation, the statistics certainly don’t suggest that we are even close to achieving this objective. The problem is that instead of promoting health and everything that is involved with keeping people out of the health system, we keep pouring money into the treatment of sickness.
As many a Grandma said, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure’. Currently we are spending $24 billion on the ‘cure’ side of the ledger and almost nothing on prevention. Rather than a health care system, what we have is little more than a disease care system.
Years of study and reading of the medical literature has convinced me that the goal of having a healthier nation will continue to elude us until we implement preventive measures, and we give people the freedom to choose the type of health care that they want. This would necessitate allowing doctors to use treatment options that they believe would achieve the best outcomes for their patients.
The Declaration of Helsinki 1964 (of the World Medical Organisation) states, “It is the mission of the physician to safeguard the health of the people. His or her knowledge and conscience are dedicated to the fulfillment of this mission. A physician must be free to use the most appropriate treatment if in his or her judgment it will result in the alleviation of suffering or the restoration of health or saving the life of the patient”.
Sadly today, doctors who choose to practice along these lines using their knowledge and skill to find the best way to help a patient, can risk ridicule and censure by the Medical Council. In New Zealand we have some of the finest doctors and specialists in the world but until we give them freedom to look beyond what they were taught in medical school and learn more about nutrition, and how to prevent the onset of disease, we will almost certainly continue on the path we are on.
With an aging population. the need to consider preventive healthcare options becomes even more important. Nutritional interventions for heart disease, arthritis, diabetes infectious diseases and respiratory illnesses already exist and are based on simple biochemistry. Given that end of life care is so massively expensive one would think simple inexpensive interventions would be welcomed. Unfortunately, they are not.
When it comes to our health, we should not see the need for change as a threat, but as a challenge that can be embraced in the best interests of all New Zealanders. (John Appleton)
appletonassoc@xtra.co.nz
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Published 6 August 2021