Something is Very Wrong with This Country!!

In his speech at the opening of a National Population Conference held in Cairo, President Mubarak, who has in the past blamed population growth for draining state resources amid rising discontent at rocketing food prices, said that rampant reproduction was a "major challenge" and "fundamental obstacle" to development.

The conference wrapped up its activities by calling on the community to adopt the concept of two-child small family as a basis for the national strategy for controlling overpopulation and called for child spacing to a period of 3-5 years.

The final communiqué of the conference called for:

• considering the speech given by President Mubarak at the inaugural session of the conference as a practical approach for dealing with population issue.
• inserting demographic culture in curricula at the Ministry of Education and Al-Azhar.
• making demographic problem an essential component of the national information policy.
• assigning the Ministry of Health to draw up a full dressed map for tackling overpopulation problem.
  
• accelerating the establishment of an independent national authority to offer health services needed by family planning program.
  

Considering the above, which actually sounded to me like a good plan, guess what was the leading news story in the Egyptian papers only a couple of months after the conclusion of the conference????

Give up? It was about an Egyptian woman who gave birth to septuplets!! Yes seven healthy babies!!!!!!! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7.

How? Well, according to the news agencies, the couple, who already had three children -all girls- badly wanted a boy. Since the 27 years old mother had not conceived in five years, her doctors gave her fertility treatment which lead to this small miracle, or disaster, depending on whom you talk to.

I will actually go with disaster, not only because of the complete detachment between the people, the health care employees, & the government of this country, but also because of the following:

• The father is a farm laborer who can find work only a few days a week.
• The mother first words were: "I'm really worried about what the future looks like."
• The doctors waited so long to deliver the babies, risking the mother's life, because Egypt has only a few respirators for newborns, and none were available.
• Free and government subsidized health care was provided by government employees in support of traditions and ideas that are deemed backward and harmful to our economy by the same government.

Now all together pleasse:
"Something is Very Wrong with This Country!!"