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My thoughts, all serious, on important issues and events. |
| MEDICAL CARE IN INDIA AND THE USA [Medical care facilities in India and the USA are different. The Indian model is more cost effective.] I recently toured the USA for three months. I received a query on an e mail list regarding medical care in the USA. The query and my answer are given below. QUESTION—You have been to the USA. While there, did you get the opportunity to visit American hospitals? What were you impressions, say, in comparison to AIIMS (All India Institute of medical Sciences)? ANSWER--When I was in the USA last time, I visited the office of a friend of mine having his specialist practice for 35 years. I also visited the practice of a physiotherapist. In addition, I listened to first- hand accounts of medical practice details from those providing medical services (doctors themselves having 30-40 years practice in the USA). I also had occasion to listen to the experiences of people who had been recipients of medical services. I also had occasion to see a bit of TV programmes and advertisements related to hospitals. During an earlier visit to the USA, I had been treated in a hospital there myself. My impressions are as follows (Note: These are just that—impressions. My statements below are not based on in depth knowledge and study. I hope to learn from the comments of readers, if any.)— 1--Medical care in the USA is far costlier. 2--It is quicker. Hospitals are much less crowded. 3--The rich have no problem anywhere--India or the USA. 4--The poor can have free treatment in India. If the treatment is being provided in places like AIIMS, (where many patients are poor and the majority get free treatment), the quality is excellent. In the USA, free treatment is a dream. A recent report reads: " June 5, 2009 “Health care related bankruptcy is on the rise, study says”: Americans are increasingly at risk of financial ruin due to illness and medical expenses, according to a new study released yesterday by the American Journal of Medicine. The researchers found that illness or medical bills contributed to nearly two thirds, or 62 percent, of all bankruptcies in 2007—before the major impact of the housing collapse and current economic downturn. That’s a 50 percent increase over a similar survey in 2001 by the same researchers." http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/2009/06/health-care-bankruptcy-on-rise-m... 5--The public in the USA are in the vice-like grip of four giants: Medical industry; Pharma Industry; Diagnostics industry; and, Insurance industry. All the four giants are allowed to feed themselves by the Capitalist-Consumerist politico-economical system that governs thought and practice in the USA, more so in the case of the Republicans, which almost allows poverty to be viewed as a sin and richness as a virtue. In such a system, social welfare is viewed as communism, the most abominable bugbear in the eyes of the USA. The outcome of such a scenario is that the four giants feed on the blood of the victim and offer a part of the blood sucked, as an offering, to the one who so allows. 6—The mind-set of the American medical profession is reflected in the fact that the majority of doctors in the USA are supporters of the Republican party, which is vehemently opposed to the healthcare reforms recently passed in the USA. It is the same bill about which the Times of India writes as follows: “The United States passed the most significant piece of social legislation in half a century on a historic Sunday night in a move aimed at providing affordable health care to all Americans and reigning in runaway costs. The landmark transformation in the US health care system, which accounts for one-sixth of the US's $13 trillion economy, was clinched in a 219-212 vote in the House of Representatives. No Republican voted for the bill.” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Obama-scores-big-win-on-health-care/... SUMMARY--Hospitals in both India and the USA have good and bad points. Which system is better may be arguable. However, it would appear that cost-effectiveness is higher in AIIMS / Indian corporate hospitals compared to the US hospitals. M C Gupta 23 March 2010 |
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