Introduction
Provision of health care is one of the most important necessities that human beings require in their lives. The health of an individual is extremely important and should not be compromised with any other thing. In most countries, provision of quality health care is one of the key priorities of the government through the ministry of health. Good health care provision impacts positively on the economic development of a country since healthy citizens are productive and can contribute positively in improving the economy (Schneider, 2010)
Limiting Health Care Provision
Despite the importance of health care to the entire population of a country, governments are at times forced to limit health care provision due to limited resources. This may be due to the fact that governments do not have enough funds to equip hospitals since some of the equipment used in health care provision is expensive. This is backed by the fact that governments are not only supposed to focus on health care provision but are also mandated to allocate money to other sectors. The decision of which group of the population should suffer from limitations imposed on health care is not always an easy one. Some professionals and health care providers have argued that it would be advisable to limit health care for the aged people. Others have expressed views that instead of limiting health care for the elderly, the people whose health care services should be limited are the premature infants. One of the reasons they have given is that these infants strain the health sector in terms of the finances because it is usually costly to keep them alive
I think that despite the costs involved in keeping these premature children alive, they should be given a chance to live. Past experience has shown that majority of the premature children who are exposed to the medical conditions they are supposed to be exposed to eventually mature and live well. People who are in their old age at times exhibit some complications that characteristic of old age. These complications may be difficult to handle hence they may bring expenses when chances of recovery are limited. The focus should be on the young premature children who have a chance of living instead of focusing on old age with individuals who have lived their lives.
Callahan Perspective on Living Long
Callahan states that a longer life does not guarantee a better life and I concur with his assertion. Although everybody would want to live a long life, this does not mean that one will have a good life for the many years he has lived (Parks & Wike, 2009). Some people even argue that it is not the length of life that one lives but what matters most is its quality. A clear example to demonstrate this argument is people who come from hardship areas characterized by diseases and drought. Such areas are always on the media spotlight where elderly people are exposed to a lot of suffering. The trend in these regions usually begins and continues from a young age. As children grow up in these regions, they start experiencing the problems of lack of food and diseases. Such children will grow up in these areas and however long they live, they will not have good lives because of the challenges they have to live with.
Views on Ageing as a disease or Nature
Aging should not be viewed as a disease but rather a natural thing that everybody should accept and expect. The life of an individual has definite stages that cannot be influenced by any human effort. For example, there are body changes that will show themselves with age. This is natural and attempts to fight this natural change will lead to disastrous effects. For instance, cases have been recorded of people who undergo plastic surgery in order to remain young but the outcomes are numerous health problems.
There are various arguments that define the line of thought that aging is natural and inevitable. One argument is that the life of human beings is definite rather than indefinite. God created human beings to live for a specific period of time after which they will be faced out of the world. Any attempt by human beings to fight this natural reality will amount to nothing. The other argument is that the mechanism of the human body is in such a way that as days progress, the body mechanisms of human beings must change.
Conclusion
Health care is an important part of the life of a human being. It is a right that governments should endeavor to deliver to their citizens. However, due to financial constraints and poorly performing economies, governments are forced to limit health care provision. Making decisions on the people who should be affected by these limitations on health care is not always an easy decision. The question of ageing among human beings has been a point of concern in determining which group should face these limitations. Ageing is a natural occurrence that should be accepted by human beings.
References
Parks, J., & Wike, V. (2009). Bioethics in a Changing World. New York: Prentice Hal.
Schneider, M. (2010). Introduction to Public Health. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning.