Tooth-ache and Client Focus

Last year I had a bad tooth-ache. A protracted problem required the collective expertise of five specialists. The general dental surgeon, the one for the root canal and so on.

I don’t know whether the five specialists had weekly meetings, an agreed common patient assessment, a negotiated united patient assistance framework, or joint workplans. But they collaboratively solved the problem.

The best thing was, that there was only one insurance, which paid for it all. Imagine if there was only one general practitioner but five insurance companies trying to decide whether I have a tooth-ache and how to fix it.

And so, the problem is not the multitude of UN agencies, but the multitude of donors.

Different countries have different problems and priorities. Wouldn’t it be great, if countries in need could continue going directly to the respective specialists for advice and assistance? And send the bill to the Common Donor Fund?

(6 June 2003)

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