Healthcare in the doldrums

Take the state of affairs of both the public and private hospitals. Mismanagement, lack of adequate doctors and even fewer specialists, shortage of nurses, inadequate number of beds, are some of the glaring lacunae that ail the public hospitals in the country. As for the private hospitals, they are beyond the reach of the common man, and even for those that can afford it are taken for a ride when it comes to the cost of treatment here -- most of them made to undergo numerous tests which are felt avoidable. The blatant commercial considerations with which the private hospitals are being run make many seek treatment abroad.

It's time the government addressed the issues in real earnest. Taking the structural flaws like the adverse doctor to patient ratio, shortage of trained nurses, inadequate number of public hospitals, propensity of doctors to go abroad, the very high charges at the private hospitals, and also the attitude of the doctors and nurses in the public hospitals in particular, are matters that merit immediate attention of the government. If there is a surfeit of patients then the doctor's attention is diluted and so is the attention of nurses on which the medical care in the hospitals is pegged.

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These are all measures that can be resolved over time if addressed in earnest. But for now one would like to see the private medical services come within reach of the common man. We support the idea of government support to the private hospitals only if that is reflected not only in the standard of the service provided but also in the cost of it. As for the public hospitals improvement in the management is the dire need.

But above all we can expect very little success in the field of healthcare unless the private and public sector join hands.