WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH THE LANCET? Apparently, it is now publishing articles like this:

Rich countries are poaching so many African health workers that the practice should be viewed as a crime, a team of international disease experts say in the British medical journal The Lancet.

The provision of health services in poor countries is a huge problem that the international community should worry about. But not by declaring medical personnel the property of the state, and their migration therefore a form of thievery. There’s been a lot of talk recently about the right of entry for poor people, but even more important is the right of exit. There’s a reason that places which require their citizens to get permission to migrate are generally dreadful places to live.

Update Reader Douglas writes:

In the early “naughties” I thought it ironic that Alan Milburn as health secretary was hiring recruiting companies to bring medical staff from all over the world to the UK, and Clare Short as international development secretary was funding programs to encourage them to stay in their home countries. My tax
dollars at work!

With NHS and nationalized colleges and universities, any lack of medical staff is another example of the harvest not meeting the needs in a centrally planned economy.