POLICY OR RESPONSIBILITY

The issue I have with government policies is the same issue I have with any other policy and that is the implementation strategy. It’s very easy to make people do something, but how they do it will very much affect how they view the person making them do it. For example, If the government creates a no fighting policy and does nothing about the scarcity of basic needs that policy would look more like a trap than something meant to create order. And this is what we see a lot with not just the government but even individuals and organizations. The organization I work with for example has a no lateness policy but doesn’t have an overtime policy making me find that act selfish.

Image by freepik

If the government should decide to make medical checkups a policy like taxes, they should first create a free medical policy else people will go to jail for choosing to prioritize feeding themselves and family over going for check-ups. Something happened to me some weeks back when I felt sick and became worse making my company put me on a compulsory sick leave. I found it strange that it was easy to place me on sick leave, yet my HMO wasn’t activated despite the fact that it is long overdue. During my sick leave, I was expected to visit the hospital but didn’t because of the cost implications and instead resulted in self medications.

Just like me, I know there are a lot of people that can relate to suffering the effects of policies that are meant to better their lives. Not because the policies are bad, but because the requirements needed to fulfil those promises are difficult for some and unachievable for others. This is what makes another difference between developed and developing countries. Developed countries require a lot of taxes, but look at their educational system alongside their medical system. It would be easier for already developed countries to implement a policy that mandates citizens to do medical checkups than for developing countries like mine.

Image by DC Studio on Freepik

This is not me looking down on my country but simply stating the fact that any country that wishes to implement such policies should either make medicals free, or pay citizens allowances that would cover their medical checkups. Although I will not advise the latter except the county is so rich that they are willing to always throw money away and not to forget, humans being humans will always find a way to cheat the system. This brings me to another point which would involve proper monitoring of citizens' health status. For this policy to be implemented the government should be ready for a lot of trial and error because humans will always cheat the system. I think something that will link every citizen with a lab test result, something that the body will generate on its own making it hard to fake for just ordinary people. No doubt, there are those who will always rig the system.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 156 EPISODE 2