Corruption ruins the doctor-patient relationship in India

摘要

"The corruption strangles eve- rything, Sir. It's like a cancer." Accompanied by apologetic shrugs and half smiles, state-ments like this are commonly heard in India. I knew this was the case before I went to work as a volunteer physician in a small charitable hospital in the Himalayas, but what I didn't realise was how far the corruption permeates the world of medicine and the corrosive effect it has on the doctor-patient relationship. The latest in technological medicine is available to people who can pay, albeit at a high price, but the vast underclass, 800 million people or more, has little or no access to healthcare, and what access it does have is mostly to limited substandard government care or to quacks, who seem to operate with near impunity. There is one leveller, however: corruption is rife at all levels, from the richest to the poorest.