Saving lives in the real world

South Africa is in the midst of a crippling strike.  Regular readers know our contempt for the current labour laws and anyone with common sense knows that strike action like this prevents services from being rendered and real value being exchanged in the economy.  This is not a rant against striking and unions – we loath both in their current form, protected as they are by myopic legislation that aims to protect a privileged few at the expense of an impoverished many.

What we really want to focus on is a hugely significant story to come from the current strike period.  Last week striking medical workers at a government hospital downed tools and refused to deal with patients in maternity and casualty wards.  This immediately put peoples’ very lives at risk.  Because there is no real negative consequence for strike action in South Africa and because the definition of ‘essential service’ is so vague, presumably these folk felt that directly contributing to people’s deaths was a nice way to get their points across.

Contribute to Netcare's 'Babies in need' trust account if you are able

Netcare, a private healthcare provider rallied to the task.  They managed to organise at the last minute a wholesale transfer of patients to one of their private facilities, being barred from working in the government hospital by angry strikers.  Insiders close to Netcare reckon around 80 lives were saved, mostly babies.  Unfortunately Netcare was too late for two poor babies who died, while one woman was forced to give birth in the parking lot – thankfully without too much complication.

Isn’t it funny how private sector capitalists are always erroneously demonised as being the greedy, cut-throat, only-for-profit beasts, and the state is portrayed as the benevolent, compassionate protector of the people from the claws of the corporate devils?  Alas, ’tis those who feel entitled to more pay for less work and who are given protected privilege by the state who turn out to be just as greedy as the ‘capitalists’ they vilify.  Meanwhile, the heartless private healthcare units did what comes most naturally to them – saving lives.

Isn’t it also interesting that those who advocate large state-run healthcare regimes are the same who argue that in a free market for healthcare the ‘poor’ would be left vulnerable and untreated and left to suffer and die for lack of being able to afford expensive procedures.  What this episode demonstrates is that there is a wellspring of private compassion and charitable capacity.  Due to state crowding out we have not yet begun to tap the enormous resources of private charity, but Netcare showed us that when lives matter free people generally respond in the right way and more efficiently than any state-run organisation can.

Furthermore, we have seen clearly that just because something is called “Government”, it doesn’t mean you get the service.  Just ask those desperate mothers about to give birth or fretting over their desperately sick infants if the government hospital “provides services to the poor that the private sector cannot”.

Sometimes big events can be cathartic and can show us the true nature of things.  Will this episode and others like it during this strike season raise awareness that the state cannot fulfil the needs of the people and that free people are best positioned to meet the needs of other free people.

Shame on the strikers for jeopardising the lives of so many last week.  Well done Netcare for saving lives.  Shame on those who think the state is the best solution to our healthcare problems.  Well done to those entrepreneurs out there serving people for profit and meeting real needs of real people in the real world.

C’mon people, it’s time we stop living in fantasy land.