FlippED is An ED Original style wherein two bloggers come together to share their opposing or orthogonal perspectives on an interesting subject.


We’re back with FlippED! In our latest edition, we talk about whether we’ll go for not-so-clean government hospitals or corporatised private hospitals for treatment.


Blogger Anjali’s perspective

The so-called unclean government hospitals are old news now. Government hospitals have seen a paradigm shift in terms of healthcare facilities and cleanliness.

Let us look at how:

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

PM Modi’s dream project, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is a project targeted towards enforcing cleanliness in India. Its focus ranges from small localities to big cities. Owing to this campaign, government hospitals have also seen a greater level of sanitation and hygiene. This has reduced the problem of cleanliness in most hospitals.

Better Staff And Equipment

One of the reasons why most of us shy from public hospitals was the lack of staff, long queues for appointments and obsolete equipment.

Due to the digital means, the problem of standing in long queues to wait for appointments has been removed to a major extent. Also, because of increased government investment in the healthcare sector, government hospitals now have the latest technology.

Talking of customer satisfaction, according to a research report published by the National Journal of Community Medicine, 47% of the patients at a public hospital rated their experience to be good and 26% rated it to be excellent.

An over-crowded government run hospital.

Low Cost

With an increased focus on the healthcare sector, the quality of facilities available at government hospitals is now at par with those available in private hospitals. All this comes at no or minimum cost, which gives us another reason to ditch the expensive and fancy private hospitals.

Moreover, doctors in government hospitals are bound by the new rules which compel them to prescribe only generic medicines. Generic medicines are way cheaper than the patented ones we buy.

It must be noted that Asia’s largest public hospital is in Gujarat by the name of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Being one of the most modern hospitals of India, it treats about 6 to 6.5 lakh outdoor patients every year.

Apart from this, we have AIIMS, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and not to forget, the Tata Memorial Hospital, subsidised partially by the government, which is arguably the best hospital for cancer care in India.

Government hospitals have changed a lot. What we need to change is our outlook towards them. So, if you haven’t visited your nearest government health facility for your monthly checkup yet, go this time and experience the change yourself.


Read more: FlippED: Should Women Be Granted Period Leave In Offices? Our Bloggers Fight It Out


Blogger Aaroosh’s perspective

In a fast-paced world like today who has the time to stand in lines for hours and wait for your turn only to be treated in a government hospital with minimal facilities?

When it comes to issues like health, it’s just about getting the best treatment and getting yourself back to normal within no time.

Let’s take AIIMS for example. AIIMS is one of the most prestigious hospitals in our country but when recently a four-year-old infant who urgently required surgery for a hole in her heart was allocated a slot five years later, in 2023 according to reports. Like seriously?

AIIMS has the best doctors hands down, but what’s the point if you can’t even meet them after waiting in the line of 10,000 patients that AIIMS caters to in its OPD every day.

Apart from this, are government hospitals really that great and popular amongst the common man too?

There is no doubt that private hospitals are expensive and attract payments to an extent of four times as compared to the same treatment in hospitals. But equitable quality health care and making sure the common man gets it is totally in the hands of the government.

Whether it’s incentivising the medical treatment in any way or using the medical expenditure in the right way is something that needs to be done better.

As far as better facilities, doctors and equipment are concerned private hospitals always seem to surpass the government hospitals. That’s the primary reason I will visit a private hospital rather than a government one.

A private run hospital in India.

It all boils down to the fact of carelessness on the part of the government.

Reports in Hindustan Times talked about a person who had to sell his farmland to get his father diagnosed for cancer in a private hospital after the required technical and material expertise was not present in a government hospital.

It gave him no choice but to seek help from a private one even when he couldn’t afford it. Although the private hospitals are costly at least they have all the facilities which make the government something to ponder about.

Many people are turning to private healthcare which has proliferated across the country because of poor infrastructure at overcrowded government hospitals.

One may argue that the problem of over-billing in private hospitals has been persistent over recent years. Experts say that there is no reference point that defines what a fair price is. Comparison with government hospitals makes no sense as several costs are subsidised, such as land, equipment etc.

All these issues are the reasons why I’ll go to a private hospital and why a poor person is compelled to go to a private one rather than go to affordable government hospitals.


Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: Scroll, Economic Times, Hindustan Times

Find the bloggers at @aarooshjairath and @innocentlysane


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