Please allow me not only to sing the praises of the health minister but also to join with Robert Collie who, in his letter of February 24, supports free health care in respect of human needs and dignity for an ailing population in a struggling Third World country.

Obviously, Collie is a young person and I would balance his argument as an older person who was first exposed to free health care in this island many years ago, until we started demanding user fees from the poor. Offering health care only to those who can afford it is simply a process of elimination. What we are saying is that those who cannot afford it must die!

Selfish 'haves'

Those who are not in favour of free health care are the selfish 'haves'. It is my hope that Government will not be swayed by the unfair babbling of those who 'have' but might be able to sacrifice some other area of expenditure, in order to maintain free health care for the 'have nots'. As a social worker for the greater part of my life, I have seen much suffering at the grass-roots level for lack of affordable health care. How can we achieve First World standards if we do not start with our poor and suffering?

While I am on the question of health, I would like to draw the attention of Government to private organisations which are given tax exemptions to import medical equipment, yet the average person cannot pay the fees to use the equipment. The average teacher, police and nurse often cannot afford specialist treatment.

I am, etc.,

ELVENA WILLIAMS-REITTIE

elvena@cwjamaica.com