The price of healthcare

The recent death of the President of Malawi from a heart attach on South African soil, serves as a stark reminder of the poor health care system in third world countries.  President Bingo wa Mutharika was apparently flown to South Africa to receive medical treatment when he suddenly died of a heart attack.

Malawi spends an equivalent of 9% of GDP on healthcare, this is a relatively high proportion of spend. However, the real shock is that this translates to a mere US$49 per capita an amount that would not be enough to even buy the average Malawi citizen medication to treat the simple flu, let alone allow for the building of healthcare infrastructure. South Africa on the other hand spends an equivalent of 5% of GDP on Healthcare which translates to US$840 per capita, significantly higher than Malawi but by no means close to the US$7,100 per capita that is spent by the USA which equates to 15% of the country’s  GDP.

There is a well-documented pattern and direct correlation between life expectancy and healthcare expenditure per capita: those countries with the highest spend per person tend to have a higher life expectancy and vice-versa. There is however one country which bucks this trend, Cuba. Cuba spends a very low US$495 per capita (12% of GDP) on healthcare but its population has virtually the same life expectancy as the USA, around 77 years. Why is this?

The Cuban Experience

Well, Cuba has a long-standing history of investing in the production of qualified medical practitioners, especially medical doctors. As a result, Cuba has the highest number of doctors per capita in the world, around 64 doctors per 10,000 people. Coupled with this high number of doctors, Cuba also offers only public healthcare and no private healthcare. This means that all citizens have equal access to the best care available. However, the Cuban model works perhaps because of the country’s socialist economic regime.

South Africa has an alarmingly low 8 doctors per 10,000 people and this is below the global average of 14 doctors per 10,000 people. Poor countries can therefore take a leaf from the Cuban experience of investing heavily in the production of qualified medical practitioners. Indeed, the poor countries may even want to consider following the Cuban economic model. It is clear the free-market model has failed to ensure high quality healthcare in these countries.

Our Politicians must show willingness to create effective government!!