I was traveling through India with my sister, and she got terrible food poisoning. I put her in a private hospital, where she was given incredible service and recovered within a four days. The hospital bill was only 8000 rupees, or ~$150. My sister told me of one nurse who gave her exceptional care, so I tried to give that nurse a 5000 rupee ($100) tip. Without a moment of hesitation, she flat-out refused. Her response brought tears to my eyes -
"Sir, this is my duty. There are poor people right outside, your money would really help them."
As I talked to my relatives about what I experienced, I learned that Indian medical staff see their job as their dharma (duty), a belief that stems from their medical training and originally from the Bhagavad Gita, a religious text that is central to Hinduism. If I had to state a particular reason for the quality of Indian medical treatment, that's what it would be - that they consider their jobs a sacred duty. When someone truly believes that their job is a sacred duty, they will do it with a passion that cannot be artificially reproduced by a huge salary or per-patient compensation.
Yes. Doctors are next to God in India. A doctor in village will have invitation to every marriage and major ceremony. Cops wont give ticket the doctor they know and politicians will fear laying their figure on the doctor in the village.
Being polytheists Indians have a God of medicine too. He is called "Dhanvantari" a man with a pot of potion of immortality. I have seen his life size statue in many private Hospitals.
Nice to hear that you had a good experience here in India. But don't get too excited yet.
Medical industry is only lucrative to foreigners coming to India because of the foreign exchange factor. Otherwise its the same this there too. Not the kind of Insurance company mess I hear happening in the US through folks on this forum, but there similar things here too.
To start with most doctors will write down a series of tests even if they are dead sure of what the problem is. These even include stuff like viral fever, common cold. People fall for it because dengue and typhoid has been always been for a while here. We have a famous test called 'basin test'- basically it means collecting the patients blood and draining it in the basin, because every one is so sure that the patient has no issues there is hardly any point wasting time and resources testing.
Doctors purposefully prolonging treatments to keep the consultation fees coming is pretty common. Most physicians close to your home, where you would generally go have a deal with a the nearest pharmacy for commissions in exchange for writing down drugs which are only available in the pharmacy. Same works for writing down tests. Although these days 'polyclinics' are getting pretty common, the doctor will generally have a small test lab at the clinic and will to makes some money through that too. I even know doctors who run diabetic camps, thyroid camps and obesity camps and what not just to get patients to clinics because drug companies want some free marketing and trap more patients to believe they have some disease which they don't.
Medical education is expensive in India. Sure you will get respect but even for an ordinary Indian, overall tuition and capitation fees means the only way for them to recover their investment is through either cheating or dowry.
The bigger problems like are a little different, but even there mishandling of cases and purpose full wrong treatment to pump up the hospital bills is pretty common.
Its the same everywhere. Its about greed, people in US and India are no different. Greed works the same way in US the way it works in India.
It is also because being a doctor is considered high status in India. Higher than lawyers, businessmen, engineers. Also they also command a high income. So what you did of offering a tip is more of an insult.
This was true at one point in time. May be around 2 decades back. But engineering has gotten very lucrative due to the IT boom, overall growth in economy and general demand for engineers in a high growth environment.
Also engineering has a lower barrier to entry and pays better than what many physicians make these days. To make anything decent as a doctor you have to do your MD, which is expensive both in terms of investment of time and money. And even after that, the job at the hospital won't pay you anything close to what your average engineer at a MNC would get paid.
And then don't forget the fact that many engineers can make money through side projects, freelancing and take adhoc risks like doing start ups which isn't even an option to most doctors.
The sentiment that teaching and medical practice are noble professions is widespread in India. Both these professions command a lot of respect in society.
I am from India, and this is definitely something that happens very often. Doctors are very high in the respect scale.
Pinch of salt, don't be fooled into thinking there are no doctors out to make money, etc. A 5000 Rupee tip is humongous. It's probably what she makes every month. If you had offered Rs 500 instead, she'd have likely taken it happily.
American prices are not high because they pay for R+D. For the medicines, maybe. I'm epileptic, and the equipment that was used for my treatment in India was consistently better than the one my neurologist used for examination when I moved here.
Essential drugs are cheap because of not paying for R+D, plus government subsidies.
> Essential drugs are cheap because of not paying for R+D
Not sure I'd agree there. In the west, even mundane drugs that don't need all that R&D, like common painkillers, antibiotics, vitamins, etc. are expensive. I think the issue in the west stems from regulations that make it difficult for new players to penetrate the market, even for generics. Running a cartel becomes easier that way.
Hey, I meant essential drugs in India! Sorry for the confusion.
Also, the term I should have used was "Life saving drugs". An example would be Sorbitrate (http://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/sorbitrate). Crocin is not something that falls in that category in India.
I'm afraid I don't get your point. Isosorbide dinitride costs about US-35$-75$ [1] and IN-0.4$ [2], about 100 tablets in both cases. The patent was published in 1979, so it should have long expired by now, and would be a generic drug[3]. Whatever the German company spent on R&D would have been recovered before the patent expired.
My point is somewhat similar to yours. R+D is only one reason pushing drug prices up. But some life saving drugs are cheaper in India because the government subsidizes their cost, which doesn't happen in the US.
A medication that I take daily costs about $35 per month after insurance covers part of it. I get a years supply from India for ~ $11. The identical pill.
There seem to be quite a few of us chronics on this thread! My own meds cost about US-1200$ and IN-100$, per month. But I find it understandable in my own case... the drug is new, and the patent is nowhere near expiring.
In case you were telling me the price because you thought I disagreed that it's cheaper in India, I don't. My point was R&D cost is not the reason why common drugs are cheaper.
Prices aren't low. They are actually pretty much high for an ordinary Indian. They appear low to you because if you pay in dollars you get 60 rupees for ever dollar.
So its the currency conversion factor is what makes it look low.
"Sir, this is my duty. There are poor people right outside, your money would really help them."
As I talked to my relatives about what I experienced, I learned that Indian medical staff see their job as their dharma (duty), a belief that stems from their medical training and originally from the Bhagavad Gita, a religious text that is central to Hinduism. If I had to state a particular reason for the quality of Indian medical treatment, that's what it would be - that they consider their jobs a sacred duty. When someone truly believes that their job is a sacred duty, they will do it with a passion that cannot be artificially reproduced by a huge salary or per-patient compensation.