Winner of the Round 8, Voice of the Region Competition

Nothing but health...
Essay by Vladan Racic, 26 years, Banja Luka

We have wondered so many times what the most important thing in the world is. Money? Education? Power? No. None of these things matter without health. Health is the alpha and omega of each individual personality.
Without health life becomes hell and loses its meaning, the world gets bleak.
There is an old adage “value your health now before it’s too late”. This is true. In our country and the region, health institutions are experiencing hard times. They struggle with various issues: poor capacity, old equipment, inadequate drugs, poor staff expertise, etc. One can find sick people throughout the country...
What we, as individuals, can do is to strive never to get sick. It is the primary solution. If we go to ‘the other side’, no one can guarantee us health.

However sick people are out there, around us and will be there always – and this is the fact. What to do about this problem? How to improve health and the system of health care institutions?
The health issue is tied to a topic which is often associated with our region -corruption. Bad people in power, corrupt health ministers, too little investment in useful things. This issue is not an easy one to solve as it takes years for that, and even to mitigate it requires radical and major changes to the entire system. 

People are accustomed to corruption, and no one is generally complaining much, while corruption in healthcare is growing every day.
Poorly equipped health institutions in small communities are a big issue today. Many people are doomed to travel to larger towns for health services or even to neighbouring countries because the towns do not have the necessary equipment. Mobility and collaboration between the health institutions in the region and between cities is almost non-existent.

It is necessary that those in power realize that health is the most important factor of a society and that health care must be corruption-proof. They need to understand that there is much to be invested into healthcare. Cooperation between all health institutions in the region, in all fields of medicine, needs to be in place. It is the only way we can preserve the most important thing of all- human life. If it succeeds we will at least increase the life expectancy a bit.