Health and how to feel good

In any major decision we make, there are usually two thoughts bouncing around in our minds: what effect will this have on my contentment/welfare/progress, and to what extent is it the right thing to do. The first is an instinctive thing. We can’t help wishing that we ourselves, our families, those we care about, will be happy. Sometimes this means more money, sometimes the avoidance of pain. Ultimately, it’s the survival instinct. The second we can usually control pretty well. We like the idea of doing the right thing but if there are sufficient self-interest factors pitched against it, then it’s a rare man or woman who sacrifices self-interest for a principle or ideal.

The same applies to political parties. They can either do what will (they hope) feed into party interests; or they can make decisions shaped by the degree to which they meet the public interests.

I watched an extended report on RTÉ last night about the conditions in the south’s hospitals. While admitting they don’t send TV cameras to JFK airport to watch the planes land safely and they don’t send cameras into hospitals to show contented patients and well-equipped wards, the scenes were horrific. Corridors bunged with beds end to end,  relatives talking in wobbly voices of the suffering of their loved one and the simple inability of the hospitals to cope. In the discussion that followed, all parties sympathised with the pain of having a loved one lying in a corridor, surrounded by other patients groaning, defecating, suffering.

But while empathy is commendable, if you were involved in creating the conditions that presently prevail, your concerned words are a bit suspect. So let’s take a look at the four major parties.

Fianna Fail. Micheál Martin’s party was in charge during the boom years, when billions were flowing into the public exchequers.  Micheál Martin was Minister for Health. There could not have been a better time to draw on this free-flowing money and create a health service that looked after the well-being of citizens from birth to death. Fianna Fail decided to spend the money on other things. So their expressions of sympathy for those in hospitals – or who can’t get a bed in a hospital – sound fake.

Fine Gael. Fine Gael when they took power were confronted with a state in crisis. They say they’ve managed to stabilise things and now urge voters to stick with them. The banks were stabilised  by providing them with a bail-out. In the case of the Bank of Ireland, for example, it was thrown a lifeline of  €3.2 billion. Yesterday the Bank of Ireland announced profits of €1.2 billion and says it will be paying its share-holders a dividend this year. I’ve looked for word of them paying back the public money pumped into them. None to be seen. Has Fine Gael raised its voice in protest, let alone demanded return of the bail-out money to the public purse? Does the Pope like Trump?

Labour. Labour entered government with a raft of promises five years ago. It’s managed to break most of them. Sin é.

Sinn Féin. The republican party is emphatic that it will introduce a health service for everyone, from cradle to grave, free at the point of delivery. This means that the poor and the wealthy will benefit from it. Unfair? Not really – the wealthy will be paying for it, and the poor, in proportion to their ability to pay,  through their taxes.

There are a range of other matters – housing, infrastructure, employment – that could be examined in a similar way, but health rightly tops the list. Fianna Fail simply didn’t bother to create a decent health system when it could. Fine Gael, with the prospect of being hanged drawing near, are now speaking of their plans for a much-improved health service. These would be more convincing if they had tackled the problem in the first days of their government rather than the last. Labour: well, shall we just tiptoe discreetly past this gravely-ill party?

And Sinn Féin – can they be trusted to do what they say? Their commitment to the poorer sections of society are undeniable – that’s where most of their vote is coming from. In other words, by providing a health service that is available to all, Sinn Féin would at one and the same time be attending to the welfare of the public and enhancing the party’s reputation. And what if, like Labour, they go back on their word, or like Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, make noises but do nothing – what then? The Sinn Féin President yesterday suggested what should happen: “Kick us out”.

One way or another, the south’s health is on life-support, is in urgent need of drastic overhaul. Not because it’ll feel good or make the government look good, but because it is simply the right thing to do. Isn’t it past time it happened?

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