By Jyoti Shelar, Mumbai Mirror | May 23, 2016, 09.46 AM IST
An online poll conducted with doctors have revealed that 86.38 per cent of them in the country and 89 per cent of them in the state accepted that corporate businesses were pushing them towards unethical practices like unwanted investigations, extra consultations and unnecessary hospitalization to rake up medical costs for patients. The poll, conducted by a verified community of doctors called Curofy, questioned 2,750 doctors across the country. A state wise break-up of the online survey showed that while 85 per cent doctors in Uttar Pradesh, 79 per cent in Rajasthan and 80 per cent in Punjab replied in the affirmative, all doctors in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Bihar said yes to the question.
“It is the most common problem ailing the healthcare system. Doctors are asked to generate more consultations for the hospitals for more revenues. There are targets for investigations like MRI, CT scans and even surgeries,” said Dr Jayesh Lele, president of the Indian Medical Association, adding that the profit making culture of corporations is leading to irrational medical care. This is not the first time that the unethical practices in the medical field have been exposed. In 2015, the British Medical Journal stated that many doctors working in India’s private hospitals were under pressure to carry out unnecessary tests and procedures to meet revenue targets. The business-like structures in hospitals offer world class facilities however their sole aim remains to generate profits. “Why do you think the medical insurance premiums are sky-rocketing? It is all a vicious circle,” said Lele.
Dr Anvay Mulay, a well known heart transplant surgeon, quit a corporate hospital in the western suburbs after the management pushed him for numbers. “There is nothing right or wrong about the corporate philosophy but the number game is driving the corporations and they are only looking at an upward graph, which is a problem,” said Mulay. This attitude is leading to irrational medical practices, he added. Health activist Dr Abhay Shukla said that doctors often get carried away in a bid to survive.
“We need a properly-functional Medical Council of India with senior doctors in the ethical board. Besides, we need the Maharashtra Clinical Establishment Act to be enacted to regularise all hospitals and streamline treatment guidelines,” said Shukla, who has dedicated a section on the influence of corporations in the medical sector in his book Dissenting Diagnosis that he has written with Dr Arun Gadre, Co-ordinator of SATHI.
