Bhubaneswar: God is omnipotent and the controller of creation. But after God, only doctors have the power to give life. Doctors have no personal life. When the patients become critical and fight for life the doctor rush to save their lives. After a rigorous 11-12 year’s of studies, one becomes a doctor. This is why doctors are respected in society. But in some places, it is seen that they are being disrespected. It is extremely unfortunate and should not be done. More than 80 per cent of our state’s population is poor and middle-class. The government has set up hospitals in different places for better health care for the people. The government is also paying for the tuition of medical students at medical colleges. It is only becoming possible for the taxpayer’s money. The government’s goal is to serve more patients in rural areas if more doctors will come out. In the past, when asked young children used to say they would grow up to be doctors and serve patients. But now the time has changed and so gives birth to the mindset of the people. Now, most of the MBBS students want to go abroad. It is good to go abroad for higher studies but after that, they should come back to their state and serve the patients. But after their medical education, many of the new doctors do not want to get posted in rural areas. They want to get a hefty amount of money by joining private hospitals. They do not like the pay scale of government hospitals. In private hospitals, the more tests are prescribed the more salary and commissions the doctor gets. This problem has become a scary reality of late.
Nowadays, too much donation is being taken for private medical courses. That means if a medical student wants to complete post-graduation he needs to spend around two crore donation, then it would take millions per year to pay its interest. So to earn more money, the doctors prefer to join private hospitals rather than government hospitals. To recover their investment, they are forced to impose unnecessary tests on patients and make treatment expensive.
Today, private hospitals across the country are considered money printing machines. Because government hospitals don’t provide all the facilities, patients are going to private hospitals to save their lives and are then overpriced. Therefore there should be a maximum price fixed for various treatments in private hospitals through the committee. There is also a need to reduce the cost of treatment in hospitals through proper audits.
All services have the same importance in society. What will happen to the country if Indian soldiers say after training that we will earn dollars by joining the Chinese military or the US military? A farmer earns only a few hundred rupees after working hard in the field whereas a doctor charges 400/500 rupees only writing down the names of a couple of medicines on paper, how far is this suitable? Of course, there are many doctors committed to serving patients completely free of cost or fewer fees. There is another problem, the pharmaceutical companies are now selling drugs at inflated prices. If doctors prescribe their medicines, they pay a hefty commission to them. As a result, common people are exploited. Of course, the government has set up ‘ Janaousadhi Kendra ‘ where medicines are available at less prices. It is important to increase their numbers and raise awareness about its benefits. In addition, the sale of counterfeit drugs is on rising. Counterfeit drugs and injections worth billions are being seized. So the government needs to take action to eradicate counterfeit drugs from the market. There have also been instances of unnecessary prescriptions in the hope of excessive greed from insurers. The insurance company is also likely to close if the hospital unfairly damages the insurance company.
According to the World Health Organisation, there should be one doctor for every 1000 people. In India, there is one doctor for 1080 people while in Odisha there is one doctor for 2187 people. In West Bengal, there is one doctor for 1350 people and in Andhra Pradesh, there is one doctor for 1091 people and in Gujarat, It is one doctor for every 2022 people. When in our state there is a huge shortage of doctors, it is not appropriate to go abroad to earn a living by studying at the employer’s money. Similarly, as many doctors from our state visit other cities in India every year, doctors from outside the state do not come to our state in proportion. In short, there is a shortage of doctors and this problem is increasing the cost of treatment. The country’s Supreme Court has expressed concern over the unreasonable increase in medical expenses. Actions like, stop buying and selling of seats in the field of medical education, increasing the number of medical and setting the maximum prices for various treatments in private hospitals, compulsory use of generic names or chemical names instead of trade names in medical prescriptions and so on, will surely help to free people from excessive medical expenses.
-OdishaAge
