Medical aid
Q: Is medical aid and hospital plans permissible. In our town we have a government hospital and a private hospital. The government hospital's services to the sick is free and at private hospitals the fees are exorbitant starting at around one hundred thousand. I have never been on medical aid. In the past year I have become sick and now have serious medical conditions. I visited the private doctor recently and he diagnosed that my kidneys are failing. The doctors could not further attend to me or operate as I have no money to pay nor medical aid. They are requesting around seventy thousand rand from me for a start. If I don't do the operation, my kidneys will fail and the result is death. I cannot go to the government hospitals as many people who had operations at these hospitals came out worse than they were before they went in. A friend of mine had leg pains and went to the government hospital and had an operation done. When he came out he walked on crutches till he died and claimed that the hospital destroyed his legs as the government hospitals have young doctors from third world countries. Another friend had a pain in his foot. He also went to the government hospital and they operated on his feet. When he came out he couldn't walk for years as his feet were worse and he could not bend his toes at all. He had to sit on a chair for Salaah. I am worried if I go the same way as they have done, I will be more sick than I am and if I had medical aid then I could have used it to go to private hospitals. Please advise.