While Our Own Nhs Is Struggling, Should We Still Pump £160 Million Into Kenya's Health Service?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4503632/How-millions-flowing-corrupt-Kenya-chiefs.html

[Zacs-Master]

Its £106 million to be factual. No, I don't think we should.

[dannyk13]

Charity begins at home, or it should.

[mushroom25]

while there's still a law that says "it is illegal not to send gazillions to corrupt third world dictatorships", what can we do? no party has yet shown a willingness to repeal this in their election manifestos....

[halfbound]

Kenya was glad enough to get rid of us in the 1960s, and to have the opportunity to run its own affairs. Why should they now expect us to help?

[Zacs-Master]

The NHS costs roughly £300m a day. A day. To run so we're talking about 8 hours money here. Just to get things in perspective.

[anotheoldgit]

I apologise for the mistake in figures.

[Zacs-Master]

No problem. We'll just call you Diane from now on ;-)

[cassa333]

No.

As is often said our colonial days are over. Therefore so should our obligations to prop up their health service, government, space agency or any other part of foreign government obligations.

[cassa333]

That £106 mil might appear to be a drop in the ocean for any number of our resource strapped organisations but stop paying out to these corrupt governments, agency's or whatever, will add up to a very hefty amount that could be spent here.

If it all went on only one thing it could help social care fees.

[Zacs-Master]

Latest figures I can find for Social Care spending, for adults only, is 17.2 billion per year (2013/2014). That's £42m a day so roughly 2 days spend on this.
http://content.digital.nhs.uk/article/5261/Spending-on-adult-social-care-statistics-published

Important to grasp the scale of things when assuming £106m would significantly help 'at home'.

[douglas9401]

Mony a mickle maks a muckle. :)

[Zacs-Master]

Aye laddie but ye have te ken how many Mickles mak a Muckle.

[douglas9401]

Mony, do pay attention at the back.

[zebo]

I'm reminded of Tony Hancock It may only be a drop to you but it's life and death to some poor soul. There needs to be a fundamental review of aid, how many countries with rich but crooked governments are we subsidising? How much of the aid gets to where it's intended and how much goes to the crooks at the top and all stops in between? In many ex-colonial countries the poor are worse off than they ever were under 'dreadful' colonial rule, they've exchanged one master for another, a good example is India, no-one persecutes the poorest Indian as much as the rich Indians.

[New Judge]

"Important to grasp the scale of things when assuming £106m would significantly help 'at home'."

Indeed it is. £106m would pay for a little over 12,000 knee or hip replacements at NHS rates. You know the sort of thing - where patients are in considerable pain and where the NHS will only consider surgery when such pain becomes unbearable and/or they cannot walk 50 metres. Only then does the waiting time begin. Current waiting time in my area is 30 weeks.

[youngmafbog]

All this needs to stop. It is not popular with most of the public but the political elite dont seem to be listening (All parties)

[cassa333]

As I said £106 mil may be a drop in the ocean but ADD all the wasted foreign aid and it is a considerable amount.

How many hundreds of millions do we give away ? How much does it all add up to?

pointing out it is only twenty minutes worth of NHS or social care or whatever just goes to show how much we need better people in charge to be able to add up, get it back and make best use of our money.

Before anyone gets an extra tax demand get back all that waste.

[Zacs-Master]

I said it should stop. Don't make me out to be the enemy. I merely wanted to make it clear what £106m was in comparison to the cost of the NHS / Social care budgets, mainly for the DM readers who might be whipped into a frenzy by the rag's headlines.

[DTCwordfan]

It may well cost 320 million plus if they were to emigrate to here and claim services - after all NHS costs are so hyperventilated by consultant and support fees.