Close on the heels of Gurugram-based Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) allegedly overcharging the family of a seven-year-old dengue patient who died recently at the hospital, a survey conducted about the common man’s perception on “corruption” in the healthcare system points towards many ills.
To check citizen perception on the issue, LocalCircles — a community social media platform — conducted a survey which received over 29,000 responses.
High-profit business
According to the survey, one of the important issues raised is the heavy dependence of the medical system in the country on pathology labs. Being a high-profit business, thousands of pathology labs have mushroomed across the country.
“Many people feel that these pathology labs have a tie-up with doctors and give them a commission for each patient referred,” noted the survey.
To a question on how many times the respondents felt their doctor had ordered more tests than were actually required, 36% said it happened one to three times, 23% said it had happened over three times, 25% said it had never happened, while 16% did not know.
On whether the doctors had suggested using a particular lab for the tests, 47% said most doctors had asked them to do so, while 27% said only some had made the suggestion. None of the doctors had suggested going to a particular lab, according to 17% of the respondents, while 9% were unsure.
Incentives to doctors
Asked if the labs should lose licenses if found giving incentives to doctors for prescribing tests, 91% replied in the affirmative, 5% did not agree, while 4% were unsure.
Of the total, 86% were in favour of putting in place a mechanism where earnings and incentives for doctors associated with a hospital remain completely unrelated to the value of tests he/she refers to the hospital labs. While 3% did not have an opinion, 10% disagreed with the suggestion.
Level of trust
To a question on how many times had their pathology reports been wrong over the past three years, 26% claimed it had happened nearly three times, 6% said it had happened over three times, 43% said it had never happened, while 25% said they were unsure.
On how much they trusted the pathology lab they used, 34% of respondents said they stayed vigilant as the level of trust was low, 37% said they had high levels of trust but still stayed vigilant, 20% said they fully trust the labs, while 9% said they had very low levels of trust in the lab.
