Medicare has Immersed in the Swamp of Corruption!

New Delhi/Bhopal: With every passing day of the RG Kar Kolkata scandal, more shocking revelations have come to the fore.

Indeed, our very humanity is in doubt if we cannot be stunned, shocked, and inflamed as a nation at this violence done to a woman. But this outrage has also done the job of shifting focus from what goes far beyond this single incendiary incident.
When a dying state turns criminal, it feeds on its own body.

What is more shocking is that what is happening in R G Kar is happening in all medical colleges of Bengal .

West Bengal is a state where there is nothing left to violate but the human body. Industry is gone. Revenues are depleted to the sorriest plane. A place where white-collar corporate crime might just feel absurd as there doesn’t seem to be enough capital left for such violations.
Medical corruption in West Bengal today feeds off the only thing left here, and that in the saddest of states—the human body in pain and ailment. And proportions of this corruption have reached the level of a pandemic that is an open secret in the medical community.

The accusations against the administrator of the institution, R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, where this horrific crime has taken place, Principal Sandip Ghosh are legion: corruption and bribes over exams and medical seats, bullying and blocking administrative transfers, even running a wide network of illegal trade in pharmaceutical drugs.

These incidents in hospitals induce anxiety and fear. We go to clinics and hospitals to be cured and regain health, not to become victims of corruption and politics.

Reasons for such deplorable state of affairs?

Medicine ought to be about health and wellness. Both of these have positive connotations and indicate a state of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Sickness is about deviating from the healthy and happy state. Cures are about addressing the deviations and restoring the happiness.

The problem starts when medics assume that disease is about pathogens, they ought to be managed and not cured, complications are normal and inevitable, the human being is just a body, dissecting the body is the most important part of medical education, symptoms are the disease, and that the focus ought to be the disappearance of symptoms by all means possible.

The body centric approach, and the commodification of the individual paves the path towards sadism and corruption. By stripping the person of his humanistic traits the doctor too is stripped off the humane traits that are to be treasured.

The difference is between the words disease management and healing. The former is an earning opportunity, the later is about emerging as a better individual benefitting the society in the process.

The holistic healing sciences look at disease as an energy imbalance. Something has disturbed the energy flow in the body and the ripples have spread to the body, mind, and emotions that are visible aspects of the person. By restoring the energy channels the other aspects are back in shape and wellness is experienced again.

This energy is a happy energy. It is to be approached with a happy and contended mind that genuinely seeks to help. Happiness depends upon positivity and simplicity. These are the essential qualities of the healer; a person with good character who genuinely wants the subject to regain wellness and has meticulously studied the methods to achieve the goal.

The healing ambience too ought to be about positivity and happiness. Negativity induces disease, positivity leads towards the cure. When the healer understands the unease of the sick person and establishes a positive relationship with him or her, and the person is full of hope having trusted the ability of the healer, the healing process has begun.

Healing is not a business. It is an uplifting experience for all involved in it. In the process a positive energy is created that protects both the healer and the subject as well as the place where the healing takes place.

We have created hell by establishing the modern day hospitals that ignore all aspects of healing. While earlier it was known that a positive mentality and lifestyle is the key to health, the modern medics laughed at the concept and declared; do whatever you want, we are there with our drugs to address the consequences. This provided licence and created the base for corruption that has spread to all corners of the world and lies concentrated in the hospitals where horror stories are being scripted and enacted everyday.

It is not easy to rectify the situation because the modern philosophy is that illicit pleasures are the goal of life and all should have the right to do as they please. Once again it is in sharp contrast to the wisdom that discipline is required to experience the innocent joy that breathes life into the world.

Our mentality, vibes, actions, and energy is creating the world around us. All are anxious and fearful adding to the negativity. This is a vicious cycle. It cannot be broken unless all stakeholders agree to the right solution. However this world believes in creating conflicts and ensuring that no two persons agree. Here everything good is evil and everything evil is embraced as right. This is the philosophy we have adopted with our modern day intelligence.
Sickness is guaranteed in this world. Sadism and corruption are the inevitable consequences.

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*Dr. Naresh Purohit-MD, DNB, DIH, MHA, MRCP(UK), is an eminent Epidemiologist, Advisor-National Communicable Disease Control Program of Govt. of India, Madhya Pradesh and several state organizations.)  Executive Member- Federation of Hospital Administrators .

Dr.  Purohit is also Principal Investigator for the Association of Studies For Kidney Care.