India’s private healthcare sector treats patients as revenue generators

I have had the opportunity to gain first hand experience in working for a major corporate hospital chain in India, after having worked for several years as a Consultant in the NHS. The statement that corporate hospitals treat patients as revenue generators does not create any surprise in me. Where else are corporate hospitals expected to generate money from? ! However, it is very naive to suggest that all corporate hospitals engage in unethical practices and endorse unnecessary investigations and procedures. There are many well run corporate hospitals in India which are very keen on providing a high quality of healthcare through evidence based practice and strict self regulation.

The basic truth is, the Indian health care system whether it is private or public, is lacking severely in vision, professional management, governance, regulation and, most of all, basic honesty. This prevails from the highest political offices to the Medical Council of India, the various Professional bodies and to the grass root level of doctors, nurses hospital clerks, etc.

Regulating the medical profession in India can happen only in two ways:

1. By its People realising what basic rights they are deprived of by the people who govern them.
2. By the politicians and bureaucrats opening their eyes and realising that their lives and their children's lives are also put at risk by their masterly inactivity.

What Prime Minister Modi's India needs desperately today is 'Treat in India'.