Health Services as a Right for All Citizens - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The question that would be taken into consideration in this essay is; should access to health services be regarded as a right for all citizens when it is a scarce resource for some of our citizens? Access to health services is a very sensitive issue because of a number of factors. The most important factor of all is that health services are highly important for all the citizens. All the citizens need medical attention at one time or the other and this attribute makes health services one of the most basic services that should be available to all the citizens. Another factor that makes health services a highly sensitive issue is its scarcity. Health services are expensive because of the resources required in order to make health services available. Therefore, providing access to health services to all the citizens is a difficult task for the governmental authorities. There are a number of resources that are required to provide health services to the citizens. Initially, there need to be enough number of doctors and physicians to cater the needs of a large number of citizens. There need to be facilities such as clinics and hospitals where such services will be provided. There needs to be enough medical equipment that is utilized for diagnosis purposes. Therefore the staff, geographical facilities and equipment collectively become huge resources that need to be taken care of in order to provide unhindered health services to the citizens. Therefore, the question whether health services should be a right of all citizens will be evaluated further and it would be considered whether it is possible in one way or the other to provide health services to all the citizens. HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA According to the report presented by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2000, there is a comprehensive account of the health issues which are most common in the vicinity. There is a comprehensive list of the health problems and with each health problem there is a summary of its occurrence in the vicinity. This report evidences the fact that there are a number of health problems to be dealt with in Australia therefore the regulatory authorities need to take effective steps in order to ensure that the citizens are provided access to health services so that they may be able to protect themselves from the health issues found in the vicinity. The Report covers the overall health of Australia using certain indicators such as; life expectancy, self-rated health status, fitness, sexual health, oral health and immunological health. By considering all these factors on a sample basis, the research was carried out and the overall health status of the population of Australia was found out. According to the report, the major diseases that are observed in Australia are; cardiovascular diseases, cancers, injuries, mental problems and disorders, diabetes and asthma. Cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 40% of all the deaths. Based on a survey, it was concluded that 16% of the Australian population had cardiovascular problems (George 1998). All these are major health issues have very expensive treatments and this fact makes it difficult for all the citizens to receive quality treatment for these diseases. Since the ratio of these diseases is high therefore a significant amount of resources would be required in order to provide health services to citizens with regard to these diseases. If it is assumed that the regulatory authorities have decided to provide health services to citizens as their basic right, there would be a large of cancer patients that would require treatment for cancer. It is well known that treatment of cancer is highly expensive as it requires ...Download file to see next pagesRead More