I have been to China and though there were many interesting things one important thing was missing . Facebook . By policy facebook is banned in China . I was ok with it as they were clear about it as freedom of expression is limited by policy in china .
Four years back my friend ( i have many friends in Europe , the arab world and US) from US called long distance . That call lasted for almost an hour . He was telling me about starting a diagnostic setup in kerala and because he was a little out of date i told him clearly that his idea is good but we are using the latest equipments here at par with USA . Anyway being the ideaman he was he was thrilled about the initial nitty gritty of starting a high end multimodality radiology setup in kerala . I finally asked him whats the actual reason as he has gone with great hopes to USA . He briefly told me that his further appointments in US didnt take place so he thought of why stick around there while great opportunity was back at home . These long distance calls was there for a few days . Then after a week or two there was a brief call .
It was ok if he had told me that after a struggle he got the further appointment of his US radiology course or post . But i was shocked that this person turned 180 degrees and was telling all that is wrong in india in radiology . Agreed healthcare including radiology is not perfect in india but 90 percent of what he was telling was plain wrong . Since it was only a few years since he left india i could only surmise that this person has learnt to be a hypocrite after reaching the other side of the earth .
Then there was my senior last year who was telling so much about his golf course membership and some private jetliner in USA that i almost believed it . Only thing is this senior we could never imagine holding a golf club even if Tiger woods was the coach . And he was chatting so much about golf and the other material benefits that i was thinking how a bookworm (he was literally that ) could change into Tiger woods after crossing to USA .
Definitely most of my friends are not like these two examples but something is there in the culture there which emphasises the values especially hypocrisy and materialism . A casual search of internet itself will reveal USA has more issues with crime , racism , etc etc ... Not that other nations are better but USA is supposed to be the best with the most resources in the world be it technology wise , finance wise and even principle wise ( democracy , fundamental rights etc etc ) .
The point is the whole world looks upto the USA as in technology etc etc it leads (no doubt about that ) . But its sad that the nation which cant even keep its cities reasonably safe from crime ( they call it inner cities) is trying to become the international policeman .....And we all have seen what was the efficiency of the relief work when hurricanes struck in poorer neighbourhoods ..
And lastly though you may not believe it i am not anti-american . For me America represents the great presidents like Lincoln who stood for what they believed in and people like Martin luther King Jr and the american civilians who protested the vietnam war ..Not the war hungry governments who are hypocritical and some of my "friends " ( a minority ) who become hypocrites the moment they land in US shores .
Would appreciate feedback ..
PS : Many of my good friends and one of my best friend is in US ,.. This is not about you ...But i had to write this blog sooner or later because of these two incidents and also about the multiple inputs from different sources about USA .
Four years back my friend ( i have many friends in Europe , the arab world and US) from US called long distance . That call lasted for almost an hour . He was telling me about starting a diagnostic setup in kerala and because he was a little out of date i told him clearly that his idea is good but we are using the latest equipments here at par with USA . Anyway being the ideaman he was he was thrilled about the initial nitty gritty of starting a high end multimodality radiology setup in kerala . I finally asked him whats the actual reason as he has gone with great hopes to USA . He briefly told me that his further appointments in US didnt take place so he thought of why stick around there while great opportunity was back at home . These long distance calls was there for a few days . Then after a week or two there was a brief call .
It was ok if he had told me that after a struggle he got the further appointment of his US radiology course or post . But i was shocked that this person turned 180 degrees and was telling all that is wrong in india in radiology . Agreed healthcare including radiology is not perfect in india but 90 percent of what he was telling was plain wrong . Since it was only a few years since he left india i could only surmise that this person has learnt to be a hypocrite after reaching the other side of the earth .
Then there was my senior last year who was telling so much about his golf course membership and some private jetliner in USA that i almost believed it . Only thing is this senior we could never imagine holding a golf club even if Tiger woods was the coach . And he was chatting so much about golf and the other material benefits that i was thinking how a bookworm (he was literally that ) could change into Tiger woods after crossing to USA .
Definitely most of my friends are not like these two examples but something is there in the culture there which emphasises the values especially hypocrisy and materialism . A casual search of internet itself will reveal USA has more issues with crime , racism , etc etc ... Not that other nations are better but USA is supposed to be the best with the most resources in the world be it technology wise , finance wise and even principle wise ( democracy , fundamental rights etc etc ) .
The point is the whole world looks upto the USA as in technology etc etc it leads (no doubt about that ) . But its sad that the nation which cant even keep its cities reasonably safe from crime ( they call it inner cities) is trying to become the international policeman .....And we all have seen what was the efficiency of the relief work when hurricanes struck in poorer neighbourhoods ..
And lastly though you may not believe it i am not anti-american . For me America represents the great presidents like Lincoln who stood for what they believed in and people like Martin luther King Jr and the american civilians who protested the vietnam war ..Not the war hungry governments who are hypocritical and some of my "friends " ( a minority ) who become hypocrites the moment they land in US shores .
Would appreciate feedback ..
PS : Many of my good friends and one of my best friend is in US ,.. This is not about you ...But i had to write this blog sooner or later because of these two incidents and also about the multiple inputs from different sources about USA .
Haroon being in Bangalore many of my patients hop on and off to the US and form a non medico's point of view even the health system there is awful...not my view but that expressed by the patients!!! Some regular patients always drop in for a check up and even stock up on medicines before a US visit!!! I have not heard the same opinion from patients working in other countries!!! I guess the insurance etc in the US health system may be the culprit!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes in Bangalore we are experiencing a big reverse brain drain of medicos landing back in India from the USA. Apparently consultants enjoy life better here in our own country compared to the US !!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sonia for the comments from the field .. I read on the net a lot too about the healthcare realities of both US and india .. We have lacunae in our system but the thing about the US is it is supposed to be the best . I agree in a capitalist economy the "uninsured " should suffer but what about the " rich " people coming to india to get dental treatment done .?
ReplyDeleteIn good centres we can get a report in one hour (even a non emergency case ) in the latest ct or mri scanner at 5 times less the cost . And still radiologists get paid well to have a comfortable lifestyle in india and i have seen reports from both US , the gulf and india. Considering we are a "developing " country we are doing a decent job compared to US except research ..One blog will follow on this topic :)