Opinion Editorial: Human Dignity and Equal Healthcare Opportunities

This opinion editorial piece examines the critical issue of human dignity within the Australian healthcare system, emphasizing the importance of equal opportunities and access to medical services for all individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic background, sex, or other differentiating factors. The author highlights the disparities that exist, where individuals with stronger financial backgrounds often receive superior medical care, while the poor face compromises in treatment. The piece references specific examples, such as the practices in some Australian hospitals, and discusses initiatives like those undertaken by the Hospital of North Western Camerron, supported by Franciscan sisters, to provide medical care to the underprivileged. The editorial also references legal and administrative actions, such as the 'human dignity act' and programs organized by the Department of Health (DOH), which aim to foster a more equitable healthcare environment. The piece concludes by acknowledging the positive changes brought about by both for-profit and non-profit organizations and the vital role of the Australian Council for International Development in regulating these practices, ultimately leading to improved access and quality of healthcare for all citizens.

Opinion Editorial Piece
(NURSING)

OPINION EDITORIAL
Problems relates to the dignity of the individual.
The dignity of a person is considered as a basic element of the catholic social teaching.
All the individuals of the nation should be provided with rights and freedom (Cheraghi,
Manookian and Nasrabadi, 2014). Any comparison should not be done based on their sex, cast,
religion, financial background. It supports the individual in order to explore various
opportunities. In order to overcome the Australian administration system has introduced various
policies and practices, due to that most of the citizens are discriminated (Edlund and et.al., 2013).
It helps the poor, uneducated and disable people to get all the services and facilities without
making any compromise. In Australia human beings are not considered as commodities, due to
which everyone is ranked at the same level (Gastmans, 2013).
Still there are various issues identified in the professional world, where every individual is
not provided or offered with equal services. On the basis of sex, age, financial background and
poverty people are not able to get equal opportunities (Jacobs, 2016). It is creating huge impact
on their lifestyle and also influencing their motivation level. Apart from that there are various
other services also available that influences the human dignity, such as governments employees.
The employees that are working at the higher rank at the government offices are embedded with
air-condition room, medical and other pantry facilities (Mikkonen, Kyngäs and Kääriäinen,
2015). Along with this they are also provided by incentives and bonus. On the other hand,
workers that are working at lower rank are not supplied with such services. They are not having
air-condition room or workspaces (Munoz and et. al., 2017). Along with this they are not given
any bonus and incentives. However, such kind of situations mostly arise in the medical and
nursing profession. Medical treatment and facilities are considered as an essential requirement of
every human beings. In order to get better medical services people, move towards hospitals and
nursing homes but due to poverty they are not able to get equal services (Munoz and et. al.,
2017). The poor people have to compromise with the treatment. One of the biggest example
based on this problem is identified at most of the hospitals of the Australia. In these nursing
homes only, people having strong financial background are able to get effective medical services
and poor people are not able to get treatment (Rehnsfeldt and et.al., 2014). It caused huge impact
on the health of people and also influences the growth of the nation. In order to overcome this,
equal medical facilities are been offered to poor people as well at Hospital of North Western
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Camerron (Cheraghi, Manookian and Nasrabadi, 2014). With the help of their Franciscan sister
they started providing medical treatment to the poor and rural people. In this process reckoned
amount of budget is provided by the hospital management. These all activity organised under the
leadership of Sr. Xavaria. They started offering their services based on Catholic Social Teaching
(CST), with their helps on this practise they are able to maintain effectiveness of their practices
(Edlund and et.al., 2013). Along with this, there are various legal supports also implemented by
them such as "human dignity 2011". With the help of this program, Sr. Xavaria tried to realise
people with the importance of life. This practice supports them in order to increase importance of
human life for the welfare of the society. In order to reduce impact of compromise of poor
people, the Australian judiciary system has introduced "human dignity act" (Gastmans, 2013).
These administrative activities made tremendous change into the society. For instance, the health
department of Australis has organised various programs. In this process DOH is considered as a
backbone of their process. It supported in order to influencing people at large scale. Therefore,
the steps taken by profitable and non- profitable organisations are making significant changes
into the society, due to this step life style of people is changes at great extend (Jacobs, 2016). It
also helped the organisations in order to increase growth and development rate of the nation. In
this process "Australian Council for International development" played vital role in order to
regulating all the practices effectively (Mikkonen, Kyngäs and Kääriäinen, 2015). Along with
this various other partnership organisation also shown their active participation. The result of all
these activities are identified such as Australian citizens started offering services and helps
regardless of their religion, sex and financial background (Munoz and et. al., 2017).
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Cheraghi, M. A., Manookian, A., & Nasrabadi, A. N. (2014). Human dignity in religion-
embedded cross-cultural nursing. Nursing ethics. 21(8). 916-928.
Edlund, M. & et.al., (2013). Concept determination of human dignity. Nursing ethics. 20(8).
851-860.
Gastmans, C. (2013). Dignity-enhancing nursing care: a foundational ethical
framework. Nursing ethics. 20(2). 142-149.
Jacobs, B. B. (2016). Respect for human dignity in nursing: Philosophical and practical
perspectives. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive. 32(2).
Mikkonen, K., Kyngäs, H., & Kääriäinen, M. (2015). Nursing students’ experiences of the
empathy of their teachers: a qualitative study. Advances in Health Sciences
Education. 20(3). 669-682.
Munoz, S. A. & et. al., (2017). Revealing student nurses' perceptions of human dignity through
curriculum co-design. Social science & medicine. 174. 1-8.
Rehnsfeldt, A. & et.al., (2014). The meaning of dignity in nursing home care as seen by
relatives. Nursing ethics. 21(5). 507-517.
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