The one thing that pro-competition people dont say is that competition introduces conformity, not variety.
Just look at the way people do business in Kenya. All the businesses in one area are literally the same. We think it's because Kenyans are copy cats, but that's not it.
Just look at the way people do business in Kenya. All the businesses in one area are literally the same. We think it's because Kenyans are copy cats, but that's not it.
If I sell shoes, and a business opens next door and starts selling dresses, I will start selling dresses like my neighbor. And my neighbor will start selling shoes like me.
Then we would start have to compete not on offering better products, but entertaining customers.
Then we would start have to compete not on offering better products, but entertaining customers.
I will get someone to sing outside my shop,.my neighbor gets a DJ to play outside my shop. It looks like variety, but it's such small variations in literally the same thing, in this case music. And soon people start undermining each other.
That's what will happen with healthcare if we buy into the market/competition game. Hospitals are going to not be much different from each other in terms of actual service. They will compete in bonga points. Coffee at the waiting area, TV, interior design, cute receptionists etc.
The healthcare will not improve, but the marketing will. Medics will not be paid better or treated better. In fact, given that KNH-Tajiri will be next to NH, they will be using the same tired and overworked personnel.
Now it is rumored that NH is even thinking of doing the same discrimination game as KNH of having two services, one for the rich with private insurance, one for the poorer with NHIF.
The same two-level service that KNH is proposing with the private hospital.
The same two-level service that KNH is proposing with the private hospital.
So unlike what entrepreneurs say, there'll be no real choice in healthcare. It will be different versions of the same mediocre thing.
That's why we need a robust public healthcare system. More than that, Kenyans must stop believing that money is all the determines value in life.
That's why we need a robust public healthcare system. More than that, Kenyans must stop believing that money is all the determines value in life.
It's because we Kenyans are swayed with poor and cynical arguments from World Bank and their mouthpieces in bunge and think tanks that we accept illusions as improvement of healthcare. We need to stop believing the hype, start being human and demand good healthcare FOR EVERYBODY.
