Sometime back a person i know commented on the huge price of medicine . This particular person i knew has millions of rupees and i snatched the bill from his hand out of curiosity . The bill was 37 rupees fifty paise . Less than a dollar . Today another friend of a person i know was discussing loudly (knowing that i was hearing ) about the greedy doctors charging exhorbitant rates . This time dentists were under attack . Apparently root canal treatment is a money spinning venture costing 2000 rupees (40 dollars ) while a tooth extraction is only (3 dollars ) 150 rupees . This person was a senior manager in a car sales company .
Both these questions had me thinking about the expectations of present day patients as these guys are not the exception but the rule these days . People who wont blink an eye spending 6 lakhs- 1 crore for a luxury item like a car will grudgingly pay the price for their essential healthcare which enables them to lead a healthy life . Common sense and some searching for knowledge in places like internet will tell you that medical care is expensive because modern medical care has huge costs in discovering new medications . Even for a simple drug like paracetamol (crocin) millions of rupees are used in research . Luckily many of these medicines are cheap because the cost is shared by millions of people . The same goes for technology . A cataract surgery which used to take days to heal and used to have so many complications now can be done and patient sent home within 4 hours with foldable intraocular lens . And if we expect this foldable intra-ocular lens to cost rs 10 is it the lens or the expectations to be blamed .
I dont own a BMW but i have heard a sidemirror of it costs around 80000 rs . At that cost in many hospitals you can do most major surgeries . But the BMW owner will proudly speak about the 80000 he spent on his mirror while the patient who got back his life will keep on cribbing about the 80000 rs he spent and the greedy doctors , greedy hospitals etc . I am not saying that all the doctors or hospitals are great but we should be realistic in judging anything including healthcare .
Both these questions had me thinking about the expectations of present day patients as these guys are not the exception but the rule these days . People who wont blink an eye spending 6 lakhs- 1 crore for a luxury item like a car will grudgingly pay the price for their essential healthcare which enables them to lead a healthy life . Common sense and some searching for knowledge in places like internet will tell you that medical care is expensive because modern medical care has huge costs in discovering new medications . Even for a simple drug like paracetamol (crocin) millions of rupees are used in research . Luckily many of these medicines are cheap because the cost is shared by millions of people . The same goes for technology . A cataract surgery which used to take days to heal and used to have so many complications now can be done and patient sent home within 4 hours with foldable intraocular lens . And if we expect this foldable intra-ocular lens to cost rs 10 is it the lens or the expectations to be blamed .
I dont own a BMW but i have heard a sidemirror of it costs around 80000 rs . At that cost in many hospitals you can do most major surgeries . But the BMW owner will proudly speak about the 80000 he spent on his mirror while the patient who got back his life will keep on cribbing about the 80000 rs he spent and the greedy doctors , greedy hospitals etc . I am not saying that all the doctors or hospitals are great but we should be realistic in judging anything including healthcare .
I totally agree with you on this one Haroon. I guess one thing people have to understand is that; like machines, human being also need maintenance (servicing) from time to time. one can only get the job done by paying a professional and there ends the matter. As you have rightly pointed out life is all about choices" where ones priority lies".
ReplyDelete@jazz thanks for the comment ..Though being a doctor i am ready to pay the cost whatever it might be for my health as i understand that, that is the most valuable asset one has ....
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