Nov
17
NDTV further clarifies that, it is not the question of lack of investment in government hospitals, but the problem is more of the wastage of resources and careless attitude.
It is not like India spends very less in healthcare system, yet the system is suffering from unprofessional attitude.
Indian Health Minister Ramadoss scheduled an enquiry about the lapses in Delhi government Hospital systems. Watch!
Not only the Delhi hospitals, but even the health ministry is suffering from all such mismanagement and mal-investment. Ramadoss himself keeps worrying himself about the smoking and drinking habits of the Bollywood actors, restricting common man from public smoking and all other political stunts a minister performs for gaining public attentions, though on major health-care issues like the case of Delhi government hospitals, he remains ignorant. Obviously, the allocated money for the health-care ministry goes in all such waste activities, while the major issues for which the money should be used properly remains ignored.
Is it a problem of bad politics, or corrupt politician?
Answer is no. basically, no sort of politician how-so-ever honest he may go, can establish a good national-health-care system.
The reason is simple, the resources of India are limited, and they are far less than what is necessary for such a large community. The resources need to be utilized in most appropriate and optimized manner, but that is not possible in socialistic system India is following since long.
Socialism is unworkable because without the profit-and-loss calculations it’s impossible for a Socialist planner to rationally allocate the resources.
So, although the aim of Indian government for its health-plan is great, but it is not simply feasible. And since the limited resources are never allocated rationally on the basis of maximum profits and minimum loss, the system crumbles down under the weight of extreme wastage.
How it can be improved?
It is foolish to expect the socialist health-care system to be a success in India.
The private nursing homes and healthcare hospitals certainly provide a better chain of facilities for the consumers. Obviously, the private health-care system too, cannot provide standard health-care for the citizens. Yet it would certainly stop-gauge the wastage of resources by allocating the resources, doctors, health-care personals and money in much rational and optimal ways. Obviously, private health-care systems help in providing proper care for a big part of the citizens.
The need is to increase the man-resources in health industry which ultimately will make the health-care system pretty much less costly.
Indians are in dire demand of doctors and nurses and other health-care workers. Yet the supply of man-resources is extremely low. To increase that supply, Indian government needs to liberate the education system and let the private sector provide incentives for the common students of India to be attracted towards medical services in private sectors in plenty. Education and Health-Care department essentially needs freedom from governmental statist socialist grip.
Is professional attitude necessary in education and health-care system alone?
Every year, Delhi sees an increase in number of police men and governmental-security-services and security guards. Yet, the crime never come under-control, it increases with double speed.
Some may blame it on the increasing population of NCR and the yawning difference between the “economic-classes”. Some may blame it to the corruption pervaded in police departments. Yet, none will point out that the police department and Home-Security ministry is also suffering from the same unprofessional attitude.
When some farmers commits suicide in UP, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh or Vidharbha, the Indian youth starts protesting and demanding for the Industrial Status of agriculture so that farmers may become capable. But when thousands of people suffers or dies being victims of various sorts of crimes, no one asks or even think for a privatized or partial-privatized system of security forces.
Who can deny that the telephone and mobile services improved dramatically after the liberalization of telecommunication sector of India?
Indian police system also suffers from wastage of resources. Mostly, policemen finds themselves busy in checking for the victimless crimes, and effect-less deeds.
One may find the policemen checking for “love-couples” freely expressing and enjoying their love in some park or restaurants, is love a crime?
Or you will find them checking for some sort of small weapons like army knives or hand pistols. Ahh, it is illegal to have pistols in India, why? Is self-defence also a crime? Yet, police cannot stop the business of illegal hand-guns. It is wastage of police force. One may find police checking sex-workers and pestering and blackmailing them. How can prostitution or pimping be crime if the persons involved are engaged with sense of mutual-benefits and none of them is primarily complaining any sort of exploitation? Yet, police will keep a vigil on the sex-workers, no matters in same Delhi hundreds of girls get raped each year.
The socialist civil-security system fails because mostly the socialist system wastes the resources in victimless and affectless crimes.
Just as when the means of production of any good or service are monopolized by the state, the result is havoc; we see similar problems when the state owns the means of production of the service of protecting the innocent and going after the guilty.
Government wastes resources because it can keep wasting without feeling any loss. While a private service provider won’t waste his resources and his money in issueless subjects, because it will cause him loss, government remains immune against the fear of loss, and hence government gets no incentive in saving and effectively using the resources.
Whatever government spends in such service sectors like civil-protection, health-care, education etc, it has already extracted that amount and much more from the productive sectors of the economy. And that leverage, plus the monopolized situation where government has to answer nobody, causes all corruption, mal-investment and wastage. And when all these wastages reaches to an extent that the productive sectors can no longer hold the expenses government wastes, the economy crumbles.
That’s what happened with American Economy. The two extreme wars, Katarina cyclone, and mal-investment in pestered co-operations like The Auto-Industry and banking caused the economy see failure.
Now, if government says it was caused because of lack of regulations, than yes that is true, but the regulation is needed on government spending, not on the productive market. As far as Government will remain away from the productive sectors and public service sectors, as much the economy of that nation will strengthen.
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5 Responses to “Socialistic Humdrum”
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Tarun Says:
November 17th, 2008 at 10:15 amwell when something is well written, u say it’s well written
this will be forever be at anything…n sadly people even lose track of why they’re fighting…it all comes down to winning and thus proving themselves superior to others.
it’s wonderful that you could touch the sentiments and the purpose that should be driving anything and not the fanaticism it has come down to…so because with conversion comes foreign aid that makes them less vulnerable to exploitation by the filthy rich ” higher caste ” fking “caretakers”.
and its been the same story right from the days of the crusades.
RINZU SUSAN RAJAN Says:
November 19th, 2008 at 1:02 ammost of the money is eaten by people who claim to be using the allocated money in the best possible way…
for eg politicians and their parties and of course the “babus” of govt offices…
and good to know u r keeping a close watch on such issues and creating awarness…
sd Says:
November 20th, 2008 at 4:51 amOK, so everybody is corrupt and the system isn’t working. So what?
My feeling is that yes, politicians are corrupt and wicked and useless, but it’s us, the weak, foolish populace, that keeps voting these morons into power. Who’s fault is it then? The corrupt people or the people that allow them to continue being corrupt?
I mean look at West Bengal’s communist regime that has held an iron grip using corruption and violence for 60 years. What rubbish is that? Why have they not been pushed out of power? Because the bengalis themselves (or ourselves really as I am also Bengali) have fallen into shameful habits of accepting the nonsense as the way of the world. Worst case is that most of us actually participate in it too every day. Who’s going to vote out the ruling party? Things are too nice and sedentary to change… let’s just leave it all as the pile of garbage it is.
Futhermore, your points about failing healthcare are valid, but look at the system. How many people are placing unfair demands on the state services? Refusing to pay tax or correct rent in many cases (certainly in Bengal) and then demanding all and sundry for FREE. That’s right… we all expect the state to fork out cash and services whenever we want, but nobody stops to think that this is a pitifully naive idea.
You can NEVER have something for nothing. Either we all pay more tax to cover the state burden (which we will not do by choice) or we pay for the service like in the US… no insurance … no treatment and you die on the street (pretty much).
There has to be a fair balance if the system is to work. For example, in Europe many countries like France and Germany have systems where you must pay a small fee (say 20 Euros, or around 1000 Rupees direct conversion - yes this is small in France) every time you visit the doctor. However you get the full spectrum of treatment then, and the system works at a reasonable level because it has a guaranteed income from people who use it as well as government funding. Also, people can actually claim back part or all of the doctor’s fee on a means tested basis, so the really disadvantaged don’t have to pay, and the people who can, do pay something.
This is much fairer than the clearly failed example of the UK National Health Service (NHS) which is a pitiful example of how the government has mismanaged funds over decades to create unpluggable black hole of billions of pounds. Every year more tax income is poured into the hole to try and cover the ridiculous demands placed on it by the people. Every year we hear of standards falling and people being misdiagnosed because of lack of trained staff or equipment and diseases like MRSA (flesh eating bacteria) being common in wards.
It’s a sad state, but I have a feeling this is what the Indian system is based on, given it’s unhealthy obsession with UK standards for medicine and other fields. No wonder it isn’t working in India. Change the system and make people who can (and should) pay up!
renegade_division Says:
November 20th, 2008 at 6:17 am@SD Said:
And how many people do you think are dying on street because of lack of healthcare? How many are dying on street in India because of lack of healthcare? You are full of rhetoric dude. But no substance. In the world you live in apparently, there is no free market.
For example in your world there are only two way things can go to.
1) You get free/paid services from the govt.
2) You don’t get any service from anyone.
In your world, people in America don’t have any healthcare.
In your world people of France pay 20 Euros to the doctor for every visit and somehow that pays for every cost of the full healthcare services(I donno if that is true or not, it sure does not make any logical sense, if its true then the Healthcare system of France sucks big time).
sd Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 3:17 am@renegade_division
Yes I agree that people are dying in India too because of lack of any form of organised and sincere service, but I guess I have not explained my point properly.
My example of France shows that even though the country has some pretty socialist views, they still expect the average person to pay something towards the services they get. Of course there is private insurance too and that means you are entitled to pay more for hopefully higher quality of care… as you mention, you get what you pay for.
In fact the small amount people are paying does contribute something towards funding the healthcare system and keeping it running. Of course the government pays in a lot as well, but it isn’t as high as if the government had to pay for 100% of the costs themselves.
I agree that I was a bit generalistic about the situation in the US. I don’t have a clear and full understanding of the sytem there. However, I was merely trying to issue the example of the US as the extreme of capitalism running healthcare, where it is mostly funded by private insurance and the majority of people do have to pay insurance. Without health insurance you are in some great difficulty in the US, and that I’m sure of.
In the UK, the government actually takes 10% of all salaries out as ‘National Insurance’ contributions before you even get taxed. This is supposed to go towards funding the national health service.
However, the system is so bogged down in irrational claims for free healthcare (eg. people demanding cosmetic surgery, viagara, medicinal marajuana and other inessential requests) that any contributions are quickly wiped out by the pressures placed on it. My opinion is that the system would be much better if everybody was forced to pay some small, representative amount for their treatment. I am certain it would wipe away a lot of freeloaders who think it is their right to claim benefits from the state for no reason. This in itslef would shorten waiting lists and relieve strain on the system!
Regarding India, I do personally think that they should start charging some fees / national insurance contribution to the people who are salary paid. Of course this would have to be means tested so the lowest earners are not losing out, but the money gained from this could be funnelled into supporting resources where they are needed.
Again, making people pay for it should reduce a significant number of people who are interested in freeloading, and reduce some demand on the system.
And, yes, I’m well aware that there are a lot of people paying a lot of money in India for some of the most advanced private healthcare available in the world. Hence a lot of people go from UK to India on ‘health tourism visits’ as it’s called.