Just the other day, I was speaking to some friends about the increasing decline of ethics among hospitals and doctors in today’s times. We live in a part of Bangalore, where we have, what we can call, 3 state-of-the-art hospitals. Yes, in terms of infrastructure and facilities, they are very good. That they charge steeply is also a given considering that it takes money to build those facilities and attract quality doctors. But, we all felt that, most of the time, they are in a fleece mode. They cash in on the panic in stress situations often advising for redundant expensive scans and tests to be done in the guise of investigation.
My elder son, Siddharth had an accident when he was almost 5. He fell off his bicycle on to concrete road. A part of his eyebrow got scraped, and there was bleeding. I rushed him to Emergency, as it was evening. He was in a lot of pain and could have got stitches on his forehead had he allowed the doctor to give him some local anesthesia. It was a simple case according to me. But, guess what, despite knowing that there was no concussion, no vomiting, and loss of consciousness; the doctor insisted that we get a CT scan done. That was an expensive Rs. 2500. Then they made us get him admitted, told us to get plastic surgery done on his eyebrow, or else his hair there would never come back. What could we do, we had to trust the doctor’s word? They presented a final bill of close to Rs. 50,000 almost $1200. It was steep, over priced, and unwarranted. It was covered by the insurance only because it was an inpatient procedure. That is the reason why they asked him to be admitted in the first place. So, that they could get the insurance company to pay up.
Can you see how the entire con was perpetrated? The fees for CT scan (which is dangerous to unnecessarily expose a child to the harmful radiations) and other medications etc. were borne by us. The end result, we felt cheated and disoriented. I have many such stories of this hospital and others, who do the exact same thing. I would equate such ethics of these hospitals to prostitution.
They take advantage of stress situations to mislead and manipulate. And, I wish there was a body we could lodge complaints with to look into these malpractices. I wonder if trustworthy health care is a pipe dream in India.
There was recently a report about doctors charging almost 40%-50% more for vaccines than their cost price. They also promote expensive vaccines not really mandated by the Indian Health care System but just to make money. This unhealthy nexus of hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies is truly making lives miserable for citizens like us.
Rachna says 
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