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ill-fitting uniforms and bare feet. These “nurses” sit at the reception counter, give injections and saline drips, perform ECGs, apply dressings and change bandages, and assist in the operation theatre. At night, they even sit outside the Intensive Care Units; there is no resident doctor. In case of a crisis, the doctor—who usually lives in the same building—will turn up after twenty minutes, after this nurse calls him. Such ICUS admit safe patients to fill up beds. Genuine patients who require emergency care are sent elsewhere to hospitals having a Resident Medical Officer (RMO) around-the-clock. Unnecessary caesarian surgeries and hysterectomies: Many surgical procedures are done to keep the cash register ringing. Caesarian deliveries and hysterectomies (removal of uterus) are high on the list. While the woman with labor-pains is screaming and panicking, the obstetrician who gently suggests that a caesarian is best seems like an angel sent by God! Menopausal women experience bodily changes that make them nervous and gullible. They can be frightened by words like "cysts” and “fibroids” that are in almost every normal woman's radiology reports. When a gynecologist gently suggests womb removal
as a precaution,” most women and their husbands agree without a second thought. Cosmetic surgery advertised through newspapers: Liposuction and plastic surgery are not minor procedures. Some are lifethreatening. But advertisements make them appear as easy as cosmetic procedures like facials and waxing. The Indian medical council has strict rules against such misrepresentation. But nobody is interested in taking action. Indirect kickbacks from doctors to prestigious hospitals: To be on the panel of a prestigious hospital, there is give-andtake involved. The hospital expects the doctor to refer many patients for hospital admission. If he fails to send a certain number of patients, he is quietly dumped. And so he likes to admit patients even when there is no need. “Emergency surgery” on dead bodies: If a surgeon hurriedly wheels your patient from the Intensive Care Unit to the
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
