What should be the healthcare mantra for India [ Images ] – free healthcare for all or affordable healthcare for all?
I don’t think as a country we can afford to give everybody free healthcare. We don’t need to pay to provide healthcare to people who can pay for it themselves. However, we should provide for the bottom 30 to 40 per cent of the population. There is another downside to free healthcare – the lack of accountability. If you are totally taken care of by the government, you have no incentive to take care of your own health. I find the least responsibility that we take as citizens is towards our health. We take care of our car better than we take care of our health. Why is the supply of healthcare so limited? One of the biggest impediments is the lack of doctors. I will be able to find the money, and also be able to find the competence to build the infrastructure for healthcare in remote locations. I may, however, not find the clinical competence to run the facility. We produce some 24,000 to 32,000 doctors a year, while we need 100,000. Where does Fortis position itself in this broad picture?
