| In my previous writing(1) dated January 16/99, I expressed
my immediate outrage to the incompetence and lack of |
| leadership of our political and business leaders in addressing the Y2K(2)
problem. It is alarming and mind boggling to |
| realize that this incompetence is even evidenced by the same spokespersons publicising
the urgent issue to fix their Y2K |
| Nightmare. The statement of Steve Hardcastle, Vice President of Finance for the Saskatoon
District Health-SDH, that |
"...If an appropriate level of funding was in place to deal with this
issue over the past few years, (Y2K) wouldn't have had such a large financial impact
in the last year or year and a half..."(3)
|
| reveals that our healthcare accountants, instead of providing an overall systemic
approach to the accountability and risks(4) |
| of healthcare services, are still emphasizing bean counting, that is management by
the numbers. Further, the |
| statement by Jack Wilke, Project Director for the year 2000 Office of Saskatchewan
Health, that "...It would've been nice |
| to start sooner; but it was an issue that didn't percolate to the top as quickly
as it should have..."(5) is an
affirmation of |
| the obsolete top down management approach of our bureaucracy(6)
(7). Also, Wilke's additional statement that "...We
|
| need everybody to work as feverishly as they can..." is another example
of the hypocritical governmental management |
| approach to rally people for the wrong reasons, not for a just goal or a vision of
the future(8), but to have an immediate |
| fix(9) to systemic problems(10)
(11). Our political leadership has totally failed
in providing policy directions to support |
| the ongoing technological changes which characterize the new Knowledge Economy(12) (13). Instead to
support our most |
| important asset, our people and unleash their creativity, our politicians and health
care leaders have enforced an autocratic |
| and fearful healthcare bureaucratic infrastructure where our freedoms have been curtailed
and jeopardized(14). This is the |
| reason why the Y2K Nightmare did not percolate to the top, because people at the
bottom of the social and business |
| pyramid cannot speak out for being afraid of losing their jobs(15).
We live in scaring times, "...It's not democracy and it's |
| not public accountability, but it's the way the government wants it..."(16) |
| |
| For the sake of curiosity, I researched for any mentioning of the Y2K problem through
the reports of the Provincial |
| Auditor. I found that the 1995 Fall Report addressed the Information Technology issues
of management and security, and |
| such issues were again addressed in the 1996 Spring Report. Beginning with the 1997
Spring Report, the Provincial |
| Auditor highlighted the importance of the year 2000 challenges and opportunities
by dedicating a specific section for this |
| matter in his subsequent Reports. Every governmental agency and all the provincial
health care district boards are required |
| to have their books audited, and every Chartered Accountant is aware of the publications
sponsored by The Canadian |
| Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) including the Guidance for Directors-The
Millenium Bug (1998). It is true that |
| the Y2K Nightmare could not percolate to the top echelon of health care districts
and Saskatchewan Health because of |
| their pyramidal infrastructure, but it is also true that the Y2K problem was conveyed
to any responsible body through the |
| individual districts' auditing reports and the Reports of the Provincial Auditor.
I have been personally advocating changes |
| to overcome the pervasive obsolete management philosophy of "Command and Control"(17); and I have specifically |
| identified the wastes of taxpayers' money directly related to the computerization
of healthcare facilities based on long |
| waits(18) and megaprojects(19).
I have paid a grave price for the courage to expose the corruptions taking place
in |
| healthcare, and my family and I had to endure threats(20)
(21) along with the hidden and related social economic
|
| repercussions(22) from most powerful people and agencies;
no, the Y2K Nightmare in health care is not due to either |
| a lack of leadership(23) or incompetence(24)
of our leaders, this is plain corruption(25). |