Indirectly Ending Someone's Life

Let me start by emphasizing how much this article surprised me. I have always been aware of the lack of healthcare around the world, but I have not even imagined of violence against healthcare. It’s somewhat understandable that we cannot reach all the sick people due to their massive numbers and our lack of resources. However, the fact that there are people who are intentionally harming the sick and taking away their last hope sickens me. This violence has arisen from conflicts between the South Sudanese government and its opposing forces—the South Sudanese have become the unfortunate victims of government corruption. I strongly believe that conflicts of the government should not interfere with its peoples’ healthcare.

The organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports that armed men had attacked several hospitals, destroying their medical facilities and killing their patients. Imagining patients being “shot in their beds” really hurts. I think it’s such an inhumane act to end the life of a patient who’s struggling to hold on to it. However, what strikes me harder is the destruction of medical facilities. The armed men destroyed so many facilities around the different towns, leaving doctors’ skills useless.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many things that doctors can do without medical technology. Today’s society heavily depends on technology for healthcare. When you look around the hospital, there is not one place that is free of technology. From IVs to surgeries, technology takes a big part in saving lives. Of course the 100 reported deaths from shootings are not to be thought less about. However, without medical facilities, the patients cannot receive any treatment—there is nothing that the doctors can do but to watch their patients slowly and painfully die. The destruction of medical facilities is therefore an evil act—possibly the most brutal action that can be taken against the south Sudanese.

Not only does this article reveal the violation of article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of him including medical care—but also the importance of technology in our lives. Doctors would be handicapped without the right technology, and this world would not have as many cures to the illnesses as it has today.

 

 

Resources:

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

http://www.msf.org/article/south-sudan-pervasive-violence-against-healthcare