There are no free lunches :

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*Our respected PM made a point during his public meeting in Westminster, London. He mocked & insulted medical profession of his country from a foreign land.*

He is right as well as wrong because society judges propriety of anything according to what suites it best.

So , I leave things for your own judgement & introspection.

Presenting few every day facts.

One of my friend is in paint business & attends conferences organised & sponsored by paint companies. One of my friend is in telecom business, he has also traveled all over world, sponsored by manufacturers of different brands, he deals with. One of my friend is a marketing head of a company & his company organises dealers conferences at exotic locations all over world, all expenses paid by the company.

My brother has business & every year they get chances to roam around exotic destinations all over world on meeting sales targets. My interior designer friend gets % Commission on all purchases, he makes for clients along with his professional charges. Different companies give him incentives for suggesting their products. Same is status of my carpenter, Plumber & electricians.

Our political parties organise big rallies & I believe someone is definitely sponsoring them. All big events, wherever & whenever they are organised, involve huge costs. Someone must be paying for it.

All companies make huge spending on advertising & our stars & celebrities make a huge killing through advertising assignments. Who pays for it?

Why advertising is not banished, because media earns a fortune. Who pays that money?

*Why at all anything should be advertised? Doesn’t it adds to cost? Who pays it ultimately?*

Is it okay, if a big pharmaceutical company pays to a big celebrity to endorse its medicines? *Who will bear the bills of TV channels & endorsement fee of that super star?* What knowledge that super star has about results & quality of medicines, if we believe, anything like quality exists In medicines. There is complete hypocrisy. We are okay, if a chemist decides based on his profits, which brand, he should sell but we will blame the doctors, who are concerned about results also. Why not make it compulsory to have same price for same medicines, instead of blaming a whole profession.

What is a brand? Why we want to buy branded things? *Will you be comfortable drinking bottled water packaged by some unknown company?*

Yes, I will drink it, *provided , I have confidence on our regulators, responsible for quality control.*

Water is water, nothing can be more generic then this but still we don’t trust everyone & anyone.

Why then this hoopla of generic medicines? Just ensure & guarantee quality & set same price for same Medicine. Government has a National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, why blame Medical profession. You set prices ,

*Medical profession doesn’t set prices of medicines. Make anti profiteering law & set a limit of maximum profit on any product.*

Why blame a single profession or industry?

We all are well aware that a brand is created with quality & trust and they cost more, so why single out medical profession, if they prescribe some brand. Either do away with concept of branding of medicines & ensure that medicines are sold only under their pharmaceutical name or don’t talk about generic. *Please explain to public, what you mean by generic.*

Is there something like that actually available?

A doctor writes a pharmaceutical name

&

*pharmacist provides medicines to patients, again branded, based on maximum profit, he can get.*

So what is generic, unless our government ensures same drug, same quality & same price. These are policy matters, which government has to decide.

*Government wants to keep pharmaceutical giants happy*

& uses soft target, medical profession to defame & insult.

We respect our PM & consider him a visionary. We expect solutions from him & not blaming.

Doctors are not opposition party, they are his own people.

*People are coming to India for medical tourism as our services are low cost and world class.*

Everyone who has relatives abroad, knows very well that in India cost of medical treatment is just fraction of what it costs outside. It is total hypocrisy that our politicians, who are well aware of cost of medical services abroad, still choose to insult & demoralise this profession.

Sadly our government charges tax on medicines as well as Medical equipments. There are no incentives for medical establishments. Commercial tax, commercial electricity, commercial water & so many difficult rules & regulation but still

*instead of being grateful to the profession for delivering in such a difficult environment, our politicians use doctors as punching bags.*

*Our government is encouraging private medical education, why?*

*Our government is increasing healthcare burden of public, why?*

Our public healthcare is overburdened, understaffed & ill equipped. We have one of the poorest healthcare budget & now healthcare is mainly supported by private players.

*Slowly lands of charitable hospitals are being handed over to Corporates* .

*Number of beds in government hospitals have not increased in proportion to increase in population. Our public health care is in shambles, who is responsible for that?*

Last, what moral right our politicians have to criticise conferences sponsored by industry, when they themselves take funds & donations from industry. There is no free lunches. Why they don’t collect contributions from their members only? How such big events , like one in Westminster is held, in foreign lands & for what. It is easy to defame & disgrace one of the best profession because doctors are gentlemen. They themselves start feeling guilty. Sir, stop all these business & industry Conferences & symposium. Stop all these dealerships Conferences. Stop all advertising. Stop all branding. Stop all payments to celebrities for endorsements. Stop all election rallies as they breed nepotism & corruption. All these things add to burden on public. Let us have everything generics. If you can do all this, if all political parties stop taking donations & sponsorships from industry, Sir then & then only you have a moral right to insult & insinuate medical profession. Yes, one struggles a lot to become a doctor & it is not easy to become a doctor & worst, it is not easy to be a doctor, in this country.

So, there are definitely no free lunches & that applies to all walks of life.

*Our politicians must learn to respect this profession or after few years only donkeys will be opting for this profession in India.* Already kids & family members of doctors are not opting for this profession.

Respected PM, I love you & consider you a great leader. People call me Bhakt & I don’t mind that. Sir, I don’t approve of your statement, made regarding medical profession in London because I don’t spare even my God in criticism and you are just a human being, who happens to be my Hero. This is the time, when medical profession needs your care, love & attention. Profession is passing through lots of turbulence. You are a visionary & must be aware about the pain, sufferings & dilemma of a doctor, in this country.

Sir, I am in medical practice for almost 25 years but haven’t been fortunate to get a sponsorship to attend a conference abroad . There are minuscule number of privileged doctors, who are fortunate to get this privilege & hence please be considerate. It is very expensive to attend medical conferences & workshops, please make arrangements for free CMEs for doctors. Everything costs. Earnings the credits also costs. We need solutions.

*Sir, you talked about minimum government & maximum governance but medical profession is finding itself surrounded by plethora of laws, which are designed to strangle Small healthcare organisation* .

Clinical Establishments Act, Compulsory NABH Accreditation for cashless healthcare insurance, are some examples as list is too long. Inspector Raj in medical profession is increasing.

Sir, I am your Bhakt & pray to you, please show benevolence & love towards all of us. Be fair & just in criticism. As you said in Westminster, being dissatisfied is a good sign, Sir that is why, I don’t want to be Andh Bhakt because that is called sycophancy & leads to situation like Congress. You are present & we also see future in you. Respected Sir, you are the hope for masses of India. Wish you all the best.

A Bhakt

Dr Chander Prakash Khandelwal

21/04/2018