The Resilient Patients

When you fall ill, do you immediately consult a doctor? Maybe not. Consulting a doctor requires that you invest a lot of time waiting outside the doctor’s clinic and also face the trauma of going through the consultation process not to mention the money involved which in most cases would surpass your expectations.

I have had many such experiences of sitting on a chair outside the clinic waiting for my goddamn turn to come. There are so many people who happen to come on the same day to see the same doctor. It always astonishes me to see that medical agony among people in India always persists in large numbers. Then there are few who wait for a chance to get inside the doctor’s office without any prior appointment. The attendant stationed outside is unable to guard the door and when it opens for an inpatient, these so-called emergency case patients slip inside the door with a blink of an eye.

If you are one of the obedient ones, you wait for your turn in spite of witnessing such disruptions from time to time. When your name gets finally called out by the attendant after long hours of waiting, you feel victorious.

When you enter the clinic, the doctor would ask you a few questions. After giving your feedback about your agony, you expect some magic to happen. No, you need to wait. In today’s times, doctors do not wish to declare a disease or an ailment without at least 6-7 tests being performed on you. This would mean you have to invest one more day at least to get the tests conducted. Out of these 7 tests, 3 would be relevant and the remaining 4 would be the ‘just in case’ and ‘just for safety’ kind of tests. Since it’s the doctor’s advice you do not wish to ignore even a comma on their prescription paper.

Before you could come to terms on what might be going on with your system that so many tests are being required, the doctor lists down around 5 names of medicines which one should take religiously for a week or so. Out of these 5, 1 or 2 would be the ‘just in case’ ones and if there are any side effects of any of these tablets, then an anti-allergen tablet is written down too for ‘safety’.

At the end of such episode we all wonder are we really so sick?  Do I suffer from some serious illness? To add to this, the consultation fees and the medicines would be a costly affair. There are several occasions when the doctor prescribes a particular medicine brand which would be found only in selected chemist stores.

An analysis of 1,290 prescriptions from 100 public health facilities across 15 districts in Chhattisgarh showed that only 58% prescribed medicines were available at government pharmacies. This left patients with no option but to buy at higher rates from private pharmacies.

With limited accommodation facilities and long waiting time, the government hospitals are ruled out as an option. Private hospitals act as hawks to grab such a lucrative business and these medical institutions are indifferent to the economic conditions of patients.

One may not mind spending thousand rupees on consultation fees but when the consultation lasts just for 2 minutes with 1.5 mins spent by the doctor in writing prescriptions and tests in illegible handwriting it seems so unfair.

According to a study conducted by Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenses drove 55 million people into poverty in 2017, and of these, 38 million (69%) were impoverished by expenditure on medicines alone.

About 68% of the Indian population has limited or no access to essential medicines, according to a World Health Organization report. In addition, over the last two decades, the availability of free medicines in public health facilities declined from 31.2% to 8.9% for inpatient care and from 17.8% to 5.9% for outpatient care, according to a 2011 PHFI study.

After the first consultation at a doctor’s clinic, you are normally asked to present the test reports during the next round of the consultation process. One of my family members was once consulting a specific doctor and every month the test reports were presented to him. He would look at the reports and just copy the test inferences on his consultation paper. Other than that he would hardly give any valuable consultation.

The test reports can be interpreted by a common man, however, we go to a doctor not to validate the observations but to receive a sensible advice which can be given only by a medical expert. We look up to them for the cure of the illness and not to make it more complex and ambiguous.

To sum up, yes, doctors are indeed powerful saviours. While I salute to medical practitioners who work day and night tirelessly treating innumerable patients especially in rural and small towns of India, a majority of the Indian population are deprived of affordable and reliable healthcare facilities.

The public at large remains dependent on health care and it is high time that the medical world works sincerely for the betterment of our society rather than taking advantage of our blind faith in them.