Don't sell your health short!

Children my age are not usually concerned with the problems we have in the health system unless of course, we have family who are ill. But because of the COVID pandemic we all had to be confronted with the news and with the panic that we had a problem that the doctors couldn’t solve.

At the same time, the pandemic made us realise how important technology is because it helped us not miss learning, as we could be taught online. We could also talk to our friends or order food and so on. So I think the pandemic helped us learn a few very important lessons.

First of all, I think we learned that we are responsible for our own health. I think this is closely linked to one of the things that are causing doctor shortages. A lot of people eat too much food and especially too much unhealthy food and they don’t exercise enough or at all. This in turn causes a lot of health problems so there is pressure on doctors because there are too many patients to deal with. A possible solution is for governments to run campaigns for people to eat less but also to exercise more. More than this, the government should also provide facilities in parks and gyms that are affordable to people. But people should also understand that they have to use them. Technology could help remind us that we have to stop eating once we get to a certain number of calories or that we have to go to the gym or do more steps – this type of app already exists. It’s up to us to use it.

Another problem that technology could solve is reduce the work that doctors have to do. Doctors are overworked because they have to do much paperwork as well. While doctors are doing paperwork, patients are waiting. Doctors can’t do so many things at the same time, so this might be one of the doctor shortages problems as well. We can digitalize the system, so doctors can focus more on their patients. We could also make sure that we don’t go to the doctor when it isn’t absolutely necessary. One of my British teachers said that Romanians are hypochondriacs. He was joking, of course, but it is true that we go to the doctors way too often. This puts pressure on the system too.

Somebody on the festival mentioned that doctors move abroad. I know from my grandparents that during communism it was the authorities that decided where people worked after finishing university, so people could be sent to work even in a remote village. Of course I don’t agree with this, because I believe in freedom of choice. However, if we as taxpayers pay for doctors training, we should benefit from their help. If after they finish their training, they want to go to other countries to work, I think we should somehow receive our money back. I think doctors should be made to work in their own country for a few years and then be allowed to move abroad. Or if they move abroad, they should be asked to pay for their training. But we have to understand that this is a necessary measure and demand our politicians to use it.

In conclusion, we are as responsible for our health as our doctors and political leaders. We need to contribute to helping the system.