So much of India bashing that I wanted to blog about this. Of course India Medical Tourism is now world renowned. Chennai, my hometown, especially is one of the chief medical tourist centers in India.
Three years back I found a lump in my right back shoulder. It turned out to be a harmless lipoma on ultra sound scan that my doc ruled out even the necessity for a biopsy. I left it at that. But wearing straps proved to be painful for me ever since. The lump also seemed to grow in size. Latest, it crossed 8 cm diameter, so I decided to go in for a surgery.
The surgeon decided to give me local anaesthesia. He said he was making diamond shaped pricks as the dimension of the lump was too big. I felt only less than a dozen pricks. He said, the number of pricks was a bit more because of the extensive size of the lump. Then I lost all sensation. The preparation was for about 15 min and the procedure itself lasted 45 min. After that I was asked to lie and rest for 30 more min. Then I was back home, but not before stopping somewhere on the way for errands. The surgeon fee was 10,000 rs and the antibiotics, plasters, the anaesthetics etc., cost me 1500 rs. Which means, this surgery was done on me for $100 or perhaps less. This was on sunday last. Yesterday I got my dressing changed. Now that is the biggest difference between America and India. There are blessings in India that you cannot even dream of in America. This small procedure itself could have cost one 10,000 US$ (or more – definitely more). Since the sum was minimal, I decided to swipe my card and not tap into my medical insurance. (I have adequate medical cover).
Every country has ups and downs, pluses and minuses.
My 80 plus aunt had valvoplasty last week. She had other complications. She is a cancer survivor, has had double mastectomy in the past. She had a relapse some years back in her throat for which she had a stent placed. She has had double knee replacement. She broke her neck and was in bed for an year in her 60s. She got covid twice. Still doctors in a local hospital thought she could survive the surgery. They cut open the sides in her hip and got the vein. My aunt weighs 100 kg. Before surgery my aunt was having breathing difficulties and her lungs were drowning in fluid retention. Now she is free of the issues on surgery but it recuperating slowly. Its just a week since the procedure. This gift of her life is possible only because she is operated upon in India by skilful hands. Entire procedure cost her 20,00,000 rupees which may be $20,000/-. Along with hospital stay, physio therapy etc., the bill may come to $21,000/-. For her age, she did not get any insurance cover. We were merely told that the procedure is very advanced and rarest.
Further more, you don’t have to wait long for your medical procedures in India. I decided on my surgery only on saturday. I got appointment for sunday. My aunt waited for three days for her procedure because she was on Aspirin.
So yesterday someone also got bitten by a housepet (vaccinated dog only) near my home. She still had to go to a clinic for some shots. She opted to go to a govt clinic. EVerything was free for her. She spent not a single paisa for the shots and she would have to go back after a month for another shot.
My regular cabbie got his spleen, liver etc., torn in an accident. Everything was repaired in government hospital. He had the PM Modi insurance cover. Last year his condition was critical. But he has survived. He did not have to shell out a single rupee for treatment. For the poorest and most vulnerable among us, from dialysis to cardiac bypass everything in this country of mine is free. And they call us a poor nation. What’s more, you don’t have to wait for long in queue. You name it, you got it. From cataract procedures to even delivery/maternity, family planning procedures, if you are in the BPL level, Indian government offers you everything for free. The ESI hospitals run by the central government and the PHCs run by the state governments are also very clean and hygienic. I am saying this because, years back I got a family planning procedure done for free in a PHC. Though I don’t have a good word to say about the state managed government hospitals. However I am told, the government hospitals in the neighbouring state Kerala are the best. Family planning is free for all in PHCs. I decided to utilize the govt concession and at that time before 30 years, saved a few hundreds of rupees chargeable by private clinics. At that time, I was surprised to find hygienic rooms and washrooms in PHCs and efficient sisters (nurses). The govt doctors are much more experienced and quick. Delivery is free in these centres for all women irrespective of your social status. I still wonder who we middle class women opt to waste money at private maternity homes.
The previous prime ministers of India had schemes and airports named after them. MNREGA was Rajiv Gandhi’s. Indira Gandhi national airport for instance. Jawahar lal Nehru stadium. Even our chief ministers have airports named after them. Anna International of Chennai. Shri Narendra Modi ji could be on his way to become the longest serving prime minister of India but his name is in NONE OF THE GRAND SCHEMES. What we have is Pradhan Mantri Yojanas, Pradhan Mantri health insurance etc.
There is nothing lacking in India. We love our dear Mother India that sustains a billion and more lives. So many foreign nationals come here for cardiac procedures and for knee/hip replacement, spine surgery etc.
This country is lived in for over 10,000 years and has strong cultural roots. All the moslem and christian invasions could not erase our roots completely. We are survivors at the end of the day. They looted our nation, stripped us bare: what you see in India today is redevelopment only. We are merely trying to catch up to our previous lost glory.
This is Navrathri week. This time Navrathri is for 10 days and its on the 11th day we have the Vijayadasami or the Dushshera. This women centric Hindu festival is all about the sacred feminine. Our PM Shri Narendra Modi usually fasts for Navrathri and has only lemon juice in this period. We have a very devout Hindu PM who fasts for the nation, who locks up his entire official residence and uses only a room or so, is a vegetarian from birth, a teetotaler, a yogi who has come up in life from selling tea in railway stations to this level without any help or recommendation. He is totally self made and extremely disciplined. No family member benefitted because of his high office. His family back in Gujarat remains poor without drawing attention to themselves. Nobody knows them. Someone who meditates everyday, Modiji’s devotion for Ma Durga will take India to further heights. The Pranapradishta he did in Ayodhya for Lord Ram will go down in history, no doubt. He will be best known not as PM of India, but as the one who gave us back our Ram Lalla.
For me therefore, it doesn’t matter whether a country is rich or powerful. How you take care of your poor and weak and defenceless and vulnerable is what is important. The top brass of the nation must be incorruptible and must lead an honourable, respectable life. The heads of the states must be selfless and must not favour family businesses over national interests. I think we are having the best prime minister in the world right now for who, only India is the agenda and nothing else is.
The poorest should get the benefits. The weakest must feel thankful. The most vulnerable must feel safe and know that they are not being left out. If a president or prime minister of any nation cannot do it, then I don’t think he can be great.
Why India is not like China or America, precisely for this reason. Can you imagine them being humanitarian like us. This is not communism. This is humanity that’s all.
vijiravindran's 