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I start with a quote from the father of one of the jailed doctors: “I am not worried when my daughter is jailed for fighting for improved medical services in the country for the benefit of the poor millions.
I would have been sad if she had been jailed for stealing medicine from public hospitals, or for importing 100 metal containers at Sh300,000 and charging public coffers Sh10million for each. Mungu asifiwe!”
As I remember it, from day one of Medical School, it was ingrained in us that advocacy, particularly public health advocacy, is one of our most important responsibilities as a doctor.
I know that is what I remember from all those years ago. As you read this, history has been made in Kenya.
The doctors who were carrying out their professional patriotic duty advocating for better health systems for the poor have been sent to jail over procedural technicalities as opposed to substantive justice. However, I respect the decision of the court.
Nonetheless, if we accept that healthcare is a human right, then we would design and operate our health system around the principles of equal access for all.
We would also factor in a series of essential healthcare benefits that people would have as a condition of their “citizenship,” not as a condition of their ability to pay.
Advocating for patients is a core value in medicine, in patient care. Our legacy as patient advocates dates back to Hippocrates in 500 BCE, codified in the oath and teachings that have provided the moral and ethical foundation on which the profession has been built.
Even the Code of Conduct for the American College of Surgeons includes as its first principle: “Serve as effective advocates of our patients’ needs.”
The doctor is the ultimate patient advocate. Healthcare as a human right is the moral issue of our time. We are the natural advocates for the poor.
Doctors and other health professionals witness the effects of the socioeconomic determinants of health every day, made visible to various degrees in every patient encounter.
Because we see the human condition first hand, it is our obligation to speak up on their behalf. You can’t be a doctor and not be touched by the patients and their struggles.
I advocate for doctors to continue to claim the time and space to be effective advocates for our public health systems and to embrace this responsibility, and not abdicate it to others.
Taking the lead to work with, but not be replaced by emerging citizen voices.
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