Medical Journal Myopia Regarding Third World Health Care

In a Pajamas Media piece Dalrymple has some fun with the language used in an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine:
The authors of the editorial suggest that people like the Zimbabwean physicians migrate because of “push and pull” factors, or carrot and stick. With the mealy-mouthed delicacy of the politically-correct diplomat and careerist bureaucrat, they delicately refrain from describing the stick in any detail. The nearest they come to doing so is the following: “unstable working environments.” This reminds me a little of the Emperor Hirohito description of the dropping of the atom bombs: “The war has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage.”
With regard to Zimbabwe, the authors see reason for optimism:

In a draft national policy currently awaiting parliamentary approval, Zimbabwe addresses factors contributing to health workforce shortages; supports mechanisms and processes for stakeholder coordination and collaboration; and defines stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities in ensuring timely financing, implementation, and monitoring of national human resources for health and in promoting the development and retention of the health workforce.

Have the authors ever been to Africa in general, and Zimbabwe in particular? And if they have, did they ever see anything from anywhere other than through the tinted windows of an air-conditioned official car? Here again one cannot help but think in analogies, this time with Beatrice and Sidney Webb, who read the Stalin Constitution for the Soviet Union with minute attention (coming to the conclusion that it was the most democratic in the world), and every official statistic ever to emerge from Moscow, and then wrote a vast tome about the Soviet Union including everything they had read, missing only the twenty or thirty million deaths that were taking place there while they read it.

4 thoughts on “Medical Journal Myopia Regarding Third World Health Care

  1. WEL

    MAXIDEX DEXAMETHASONE WANING

    I had eye surgery and in the post-op pack was MAXIDEX(dexamethasone) drops by ALCON LABS
    Two days later I was BLIND
    Use Google and enter MAXIDEX LOSS OF VISION to verify or call 800-757-9195

    Reply
  2. Personal Fitness Trainer

    Thanks for post. It really informative stuff. I really like to read. Hope to learn a lot and have a nice experience here! My best regards guys! Tuff. I really like to read. Hope to learn a lot and have a nice experience here! My best regards guys!

    Reply
  3. Jacob Smith

    “Dear Sir \ Madam,

    Greetings of the day

    We are a leading web designing and development company. Our primary focus on SEO based Website Designing & Development, I marketing, web hosting and domain registration.
    We provide best quality services at AFFORDABLE prices without any hidden cost.

    We would be happy to send you best fit proposal for website design and development and if you have a SEO requirement, we will send you a proposal using the top search phrases for your area of expertise.

    Design a Standard website @ £99
    SEO Starter package @ £99

    You will get following services free of cost with our web design and development service.

    1 One year FREE hosting or can use your own.

    2 Google app mail interface with 3-5 email ids (use http://www.gmail.com as your mail system).

    3 Flash banner using the latest flash software.

    4 2 months FREE update on text/images after go-live.

    5 High-end live chat system.

    6 Lifelong technical support.

    7 Google Map of your business location with street view feature.

    8 Search Engine Optimization SEO (Basic) with Google, Yahoo, Msn.

    9 Discount on our other services including LEAD generation & SEO etc.

    10 Help Desk using our support system.

    We offer and have a special LEAD program to expose and create much more leads for your Business. If you do not get more leads from your website, we will give your money back. If you are interested in our lead program service, please mail us below mailing address.

    Thanks and Regards
    Jacob Smith

    Relation Manager
    Email Id: jacobsmith041@gmail.com

    P.S. This is an advertisement and a promotional mail strictly on the guidelines of CAN-SPAM act of 2003. We have clearly mentioned the source mail-id of this mail, also clearly mentioned the subject lines and they are in no way misleading in any form. We have found your mail address through our own efforts on the web search and not through any illegal way. If you find this mail unsolicited, please reply with “”Remove”” in the subject line and we will take care that you do not receive any further promotional mail

    Reply

Add a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.