Issues with the Healthcare Industry in India - Inputs Needed

Dear Friends:

Many of you over the last couple of months have suggested that this very important domain of Healthcare be taken up for discussion.

Through this post, I invite every member of this circle to list down issues they have experienced with the current Healthcare system in India. Please respond to this post and submit your views.

We will soon be initiating an independent governance circle (similar to Railways, Consumer Affairs) on this subject including sharing regular collective citizen inputs with Ministry of Health.

To get you thinking, below are some issues that were recently listed by the members in Consumer Affairs circle in regards to the Medical Services industry.

I look forward to your inputs!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Key medical industry issues shared by members in the Consumer Affairs circle:

1. Medicines and medical tests are getting expensive day by day
2. A nexus has developed between the hospitals/doctors and the path labs
3. Hospitals prescribe costly medicines which are never given but only billed
4. They charge for very costly tests which are either not necessary or not done & false reports generated by computerised forgery
5. The surgeons overcharge
6. Many surgeries are done by trainees under a senior doctor’s name
7. No standardized rates displayed in hospitals for the services offered
8. Doctors don’t prescribe generic medicines which are much cheaper
9. Generic medicines are hard to find in the market
10. Absence of senior doctors from government hospitals
11. Patients are misbehaved with in government hospitals
12. Entry and exit formalities are very poor in government hospitals
13. Prescribed medicines are available only in the nearby stores and not around the city
14. Reimbursement of medical bills by insurance companies is another big issue
15. Patients are prescribed unnecessary tests to get kickbacks
16. Modern treatment facilities are not available in public hospital
17. No Transparency in treatment
18. Patients are kept in ICU for getting higher room rents
19. Treatments are extended for indoor patients for keeping the beds occupied and maximizing returns
20. If a patient has mediclaim, he is charged extra compared to a patient without insurance cover
21. Unhygienic conditions prevail in most clinics/ hospital complexes
22. Dubious clinics still carry out unauthorized organ selling, surrogacy, abortion of the girl child, etc.
23. All health centres and Super specialities are in cities. How can rural consumer afford city rates of healthcare & lodging?
24. Banned drugs continue to be available in the markets. more