As the deadline approached, i too queued up to Apollo clinic ! Outwardly hale and hearty – अंदर का तो किसी को पता नहीं – i was given a bill of Rs 5130 – only ! Since it is reimbursed by government – people ? – one doesn’t mind ! ‘So many tests, so many consultations by ‘experts’ only in Rs. xyz’ reads advertisement boldly at reception. In Medical college ethics, there used to be a prescription even of size of font for advertisement. The ‘experts’ are mostly fresh pass outs/ technicians – too happy to write ‘everything normal’ quickly. If health fetches money, why treat diseased ! For many of us, medical check up may be a half-day respite from work. So, why the fuss !

Agreed, prevention is better than cure ! May be, we come to know, we are ‘high risk’. High chances are we won’t come to know – these tests are basic, subject to interpretation and can even fool you into complacence ! – as described by Dr Abhay Bang in his classic माझा साक्षात्कार हृदय रोग ) And if the doctor still tells us – reduce weight ? – well i know that ! Problem is how ! As per behaviour ( life -style) change theory ( Kunal Sir, bear me out !) a ‘trigger’ – chest pain – is required to actually make one sit up and think ! Short of that, nothing works.

Government bears our expenditure if we actually fall ill. That may be enough. Or like all good ‘companies’, if government decides to extend facility of preventive health check-ups, it can be optional. Sure, we are important to government and it cares about us, but more than we care about ourselves ?

Although 5 G should not stop till 2 G is universal, there was some discomfort – especially since i am a doctor – seeing those doctors ‘underemployed’, when they could have done so much more !