Sam Al-Bihiri
It was not easy for me during my dengue fever, and the worst part of it all was that you had to go through it in a city that lacks the basic elements of healthcare, especially fever treatment centers. The journey of the disease lasted more than 38 days, moving between hospitals, where the body became like medical experiments conducted by doctors from one hospital to another. Moreover, you go to the hospital to be treated for a disease, only to return later in search of treatment for the complications caused by their misdiagnosis and their dealing with the patient in a spirit far from the human aspect.
I entered the hospital to treat dengue fever, and left with medications to treat fluid in the lungs, high blood pressure, infections, and many other diseases that burdened me in the hospitals.
There is no reason to explain the diseases other than the absence of responsibility on the part of the concerned authorities. With the spread of mosquitoes, the absence and accumulation of flood waters, the accumulation of garbage and neglect, as well as the lack of supervision by the industry, trade, and inspection of food items, expiration dates, and storage, people's lives become exposed to risks that the hospitals are unable to find solutions for.
The statistics mentioned in the community resilience report issued by the organization Youth without Borders reminded me of the dimensions of the health tragedy I went through. I may be one of the nearly 91% of citizens who, in the context of the report, said they suffer from difficulties in obtaining health services. Fortunately, I survived death because I am not part of the sample where 60% of respondents said they are unable to cover the cost of their treatment due to economic conditions. But without a doubt, the main reason for my problem was the weak equipment in the centers and hospitals.
The deterioration in healthcare services and the tampering with people's lives will not stop unless the appropriate solutions are found. The most prominent of these solutions are the supervision of hospitals and clinics, whether government or private, as well as the control of medicines and pharmacies. Some of these reach through smuggling, while others have their expiry dates changed, and some lack the mechanism for transportation and storage from outside the city due to the siege, resulting in a reverse treatment outcome and significant complications.
Work should be done to implement the most prominent recommendations and outputs mentioned in the report related to the health aspect, the most prominent of which are: motivating organizations and official authorities to contribute to finding solutions and studies that help address the shortcomings in the health aspect, and work to enhance the role of community oversight on health facilities, and subject everyone to the authority of the law, establishing the principle of reward and punishment for those who commit errors, whether doctors, medicine suppliers, or others.
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