6.5 Heath Policy and Politics
One major factor that greatly influences the health of the society, beyond the handling of a stethoscope or syringe in the hospital, is health policy and politics (Amzat and Razum, 2014:15). Health politics is about who gets what health resources, why and when (Amzat and Razum, 2014:15). Such politics involves the creation of medical schools; construction of health facilities; recruitment and deployment of health personnel; determination of health workers’ benefits and their motivation, procurement, and provision of equipment; appointment of health care administrators; and initiation, formulation, and implementation of national, regional, or community health care policies (Amzat and Razum, 2014:15). These issues are really crucial and are usually not under the control of the physicians, but rather the politicians or political leaders (Amzat and Razum, 2014:16). Clinical sociologists must be included in the development, amendment of health policies especially the community health policies as they have broader understanding of what happens in communities, their community structures, how communication is channeled and through which people, and as they better at engaging with the community members as to what they as a community needs regarding their health.
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Medical Ethics and Clinical Sociology and its application in the medical setting in South Africa
Ethics is concerned with questions about right versus wrong conduct and what constitutes a good or bad life, as well as the justificatory basis for such questions, the situations in which values conflict (e.g. ethical dilemmas), and the systematic analysis and resolution of these conflicts (WHO, 2015:10). Medical ethics are simply some key ethical principles applied to the practice of medicine (Runzheimer and Larsen, 2011: 11). These principles are the bedrock of good clinical practice, and they are autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice (Runzheimer and Larsen, 2011: