You'd like to believe that qualified doctors are fairly well educated people. Alas, on this occasion they have proposed a thoroughly foolish idea - that sanitary products should be handed out free to all menstruating people.
While it seems fairly
obvious that it's a good idea for hospitals to provide sanitary products as
part of the patient's course of care during procedures, I can't for the life of
me understand why anyone would think it's a good idea for the state to
subsidise sanitary products for the whole population.
When I think people are
wrong, I can almost always see the reason why they think as they do. But not so
here - I can't think of any merit behind the idea, when the alternative of providing
money or vouchers for people who cannot afford these products is obviously so
much more preferable.
I'm also baffled as to why
the doctors voting for this want to stop at sanitary products for menstruating
people. If it's the nature of the need that galvanises them, then why not have
the state provide all the toilet paper for the population too? In fact, why
stop there - water is an essential thing for life, so why don't we insist the
state pays all our water bills too?
No, this is ludicrous. By
all means, let the state help out with the provision of sanitary products in
any cases where it is difficult for someone to buy them - when staying in hospital, in
emergency cases in schools, etc - and naturally, let the state provide the funds for anyone who
can't afford basic necessities like tampons, toilet paper, food, water and
clothes. But for heaven's sake, don't let the state anywhere near the operation
of providing sanitary products for the entire population. There are things
called shops for that - and shops have the commercial nous and diversity of
product to meet every consumer's needs.
