The Problem of the Distribution of Resources in Health Care

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Decent Minimum holds that everyone is entitled to some basic level of care and treatment. This basic level obviously excludes expensive, scarce and exotic treatments. Once again, meeting the claim this right expresses would fall to the state. A private distribution of health care could not meet the requirement of a decent minimum

The difficulty of this view is how to determine what a decent minimum of healthcare is. What should be included or excluded? What are the standards in providing healthcare?

Two Tier view combines two of the approaches, it holds that there should be a decent minimum for all citizens and there should be a private sector of health care for citizens who can procure health care at their own cost.

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Conclusion

There is ample evidence confirming that access to effective health care is a major problem in the developing world. Many millions of people suffer and die from conditions for which there exist effective interventions. Three diseases – diarrhoea, pneumonia, and malaria – are responsible for 52% of child deaths worldwide. For each disease there is at least one effective prevention and one effective treatment 3. The gap between the potential and actual benefits of health care is also large in the area of reproductive health. Preventative medicine seeks to provide basic health care and nutrition to communities in order to prevent disease. Curative medicine tends to be more highly centralized and focuses on the relatively expensive treatment of diseases which have already been contracted and need to be cured.

But how are these measures being distributed against the spectrum of a community, region, district etc. what measures are there to ensure free access and availability of services to all men? How is government spending distributed, monitored and measured against the urban and rural communities?

Distribution of resources is still a critical issue especially in third world countries. As much as there is advancement in medical technology, the means of funding and distribution is still a big problem. Proper sanitation still has to be taken into consideration as a first means to proper healthcare but what we define adequate is still a questionable area of ambiguity. Facilities, and resources within a healthcare facility, in a rural location services more patients per capita versus urbanized areas? The need for private healthcare within a rural area, hold no merit as most cannot afford healthcare to commence with.

Therefore distribution of resources still falls within the ambit of the government. And much more could be done in preventing further outbreaks and unnecessary deaths within poverty stricken areas.

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References

1. Prof M Ally, Dr. W Bentley, Prof M Cloete, Prof L Kretzschmar, Dr DF Oliver, Dr. MES Van Den Berg. Study Guide: Theoretical and Applied Ethics.

2. Penchansky R, Thomas JW. The concept of access: definition and relationship to consumer satisfaction. Med Care 1981; 19:127-40.

3. World Bank. The millennium development goals for health: rising to the challenges. Washington DC: World Bank; 2004.