Introduction
With the opening of the healthcare to the private sector, the
costs of treatment for various ailments have been increasing steadily. There is
no respite in sight. The private hospitals try to monetize the belief of the
patients in doctors to the hilt. This has been a growing trend, leading aside
the health repercussions. Moreover, the common man does not have time to look
at what is ailing in the sector. Unless something happens that start affecting
his daily life, he is bound to keep quiet. Understanding the risks involved,
the hospital authorities never let the patients have a look at the treatment
history, fearing a backlash from them in the event of something going wrong.
Costly Treatments for Patients
Everything in the medical industry is commercialized. Be it
the generic medicine or the room stays during the treatment at the hospital,
everything is on the higher side, pushing the common man to the brink of
nervous breakdown. If the treatment involves a disease of a serious nature, the
costs for treatment, stay at hospital and diagnostic procedure prove
prohibitively high. This is the reason why the patients are now being seen as
two classes of people. One that can take up any cost and the other belongs to
the lower or middle class of people. The former gets better attention and the
best of treatment and the latter gets a treatment that is within his budget
range. In the private sector, the highly specialized doctors have only time to
see the affluent class of patients, leaving the rest of the patients to their juniors.
When the experience of the doctor counts in treatment, people from the middle
or lower middle class are devoid of the kind of treatment they expect due to
the lack of adequate cash. This differentiation has become a norm in the
present day world. Anyhow, the patients have to see the doctors to get proper
treatment at some cost. This does come in between the doctors and the patients.
Unscrupulous Tests and Medicines
In the name of the treatment, the patients are made to
undergo a battery of tests and the charges of those tests are levied on them.
The fact of the matter is that many of these tests are not required. Since the
hospital authorities have purchased the equipments, they want to make full use
of that at the patients’ cost. Similar is the case of medicines dispensed
across the counter at our pharmacies. One brand of medicine might have a
different formulation and dosage when compared to those available in the
market. Yet, only type is dispensed to all types of people because the doctors
have got compensations from the pharmaceutical companies.
