I've never joined the national artists' registry. And I am very, very sceptical about the proposed national health card initiative. Despite the positive potential of each of these schemes, I maintain that T&T is too precariously balanced on the edge of democracy to hand over such power to the State.
Of course, I could be paranoid. But I'd rather be paranoid than the alternative: a dupe.
The National Registry of Artists and Cultural Workers is not new. It came on stream a few years ago and the Arts and Multiculturalism Ministry, which has oversight over it, continues to tout its benefits. The basic idea is that individuals and organisations working in the arts should be registered with the government to get access to grants and funding. It also promises registration will make artists and arts organisations "more attractive to sponsors and promoters," as the TTConnect Web page on the topic says.
State recognition for artists is also promised, as well as the granting of "internationally recognised certificates."
In a nutshell, it would make it easier for patrons to verify the credentials of an artist. Cultural workers would use the certificates for, among other purposes, travel and employment abroad.
I, however, see only the down side. If the government should decide to purge artists, wouldn't such a registry make it easier? One wouldn't have to wonder who the artists (and potential troublemakers) were; one would simply check the registry. Stalin, who purged thousands of artists and intellectuals in the Soviet Union in the early 20th century, would approve.
In the same light, I hesitate to authorise anyone to have all my medical records in one, easily accessible place. The potential for mischief is too great.
Imagine how easily anyone could find out, for example, one's HIV status, or details of one's chronic illnesses and mental health. I wouldn't trust that those bits of information wouldn't be abused. The abuses could be merely minor irritants; on the other hand, they could be large scale and damning to one's career or, for example, one's political ambitions.
Again, it may be a manifestation of paranoia to say so, but what guarantee would I have that the information would be kept confidential?
Identity theft is a worldwide business, with confidence people stealing the identities and credit histories of many people and costing millions–even billions of dollars in losses every year. The game isn't limited only to banking and credit card fraud, but can also extend to healthcare and government benefits. I laugh to think someone would be so foolish as to try to con me financially, as broke as I am, but the business of healthcare is another issue entirely.
Knowing the less than stellar reputation of our civil service when it comes to customer service, I would hesitate to approve any plan that would concentrate access to all of my health history, medications and other treatments and so on into one card. That would mean that it would only take one bad mind person to potentially cause me years of anguish and inconvenience, the very opposite to what the card is meant to do. Worse yet to put the information in the hands of a bad mind bureaucrat; the potential damage is chilling.
The card, a newspaper reported on June 1, is meant to facilitate access to Chronic Disease Assistance Programme (CDAP) drugs by users. CDAP could use a change, as it can be very slow if users have to fill out the long form every single month. But there are already pharmacies that use computerised systems to maintain their CDAP records; when I go to Kappa Drugs, for instance, my CDAP prescription is kept on a computer system that considerably reduces my wait. That, however, is a far cry from having a card that would contain my medical information on it.
Health Minister Fuad Khan, in the same newspaper report, is quoted as saying the card was a measure to deal with accountability.
"In doing so not one person will be able to get one set of pharmaceuticals...a person will be able to get drugs at different outlets. We will be able to track pharmaceuticals to see when it leaves to where it goes. When someone gets a prescription done it will link to C40 central stores and they will know exactly what has gone so they will know what to replace."
Why on earth do I need to have a health card for that? Can another means not be found, one that will not put my privacy at risk?