The government of India has come out with a document that lays down guidelines for medical treatment of various diseases.
A godsend for millions who are left to the vagaries of whim and fancy for services offered by the medical profession
MUMBAI: The government of India has come out with a document that lays down guidelines for medical treatment of various diseases. Prepared by the Armed Forces Medical College in association with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Health Organisation, the book enumerates various treatment modalities and ‘standard management’ of common illnesses and more importantly, also mentions the cost factor involved.
This guide will come as a godsend for millions of patients in India who are left to the vagaries of whim and fancy, both in treatment as well as charges for various services offered by the medical profession in India.
The inculcation of scientific rationale in the minds of the populace in any society is an uphill task, but in a country where folklore, myth, blind faith and multiple systems of medicine are in vogue, the task is even more challenging.
Consumers are often surprised at the wide array of treatments offered at different places for the same disease by doctors practicing the same system of medicine. For example, in certain hospitals the Caesarean Section rate is above 50 percent, while in some others it is less than 10 percent of all patients attending the hospital for a delivery.
A physician who writes an antibiotic for a throat infection will be contradicted by his own colleague who prescribes a different antibiotic and another who will say that no antibiotic is needed at all.
In all these situations, the patient is literally at loss and is at the mercy of the doctor. Costing is another aspect that needs serious analysis from the consumer’s viewpoint. A cataract surgery in the city can cost anything from Rs8,000 to Rs70,000 by the same doctor and with the same material used, depending on where the surgery is performed. The surgery in a charitable clinic would be cost of material plus Rs500, whereas the same would be multiplied several times in a five-star hospital.
Undeniably, the comforts of the latter cannot be compared with the former, but how many patients can afford the up-market rates of five-star hospitals or for that matter how many are willing to spend for such luxuries? Though ‘life-saving drugs’ are price-controlled by the Drug Price Control Order, there is no law to curb the runaway charges of the practitioners of medicine.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}