When a 88 year old man started feeling uneasy in the chest while shopping in the market he went to the hospital for consultation, the doctor said, sir you seem to be a bit tensed, and based on the ECG report you should immediately get admitted in our hospital and we will put a stent.
Luckily wisdom prevailed, he came back home and called his son on the future course of action; it was decided that he should take a second opinion because in 40 degrees heat anyhow will feel drained out and feel uneasy after a certain time that too at 88 years.
So the young man goes to another doctor in the evening, however this time he packs a suitcase of clothes because he is not sure if the second doctor might also ask him to get admitted in the hospital.
1 hour later, both the doctor and this young man are laughing and joking, it seems there was one medicine which was supposed to be taken twice a week was being taken everyday by the 88 years young cat, due to which there was a slight dip in the ECG.
The larger point of debate is not the ECG report, it is about how hospitals scare young, lonely and vulnerable oldies into thinking that something serious can happen to them and they need to get operated immediately, even if it's a mild pain in the thumb.
To top it up, Google seems to have an answer for every problem which typically lands up with being dead if not taken seriously. Even if one is having eye problems the amount of gyan social media university gives is enough to scare a person into thinking that he or she is about to die, and to top it up are the creatures in the healthcare industry who are just waiting for someone to reach the gates of the hospital.
Finding the right healthcare service provider, caregiving or overall well-being agencies is going to be critical for the Aged Care sector. Since many unorganised sector agencies are finding the opportunity to make quick money in the Eldercare space, it is extremely important that such setups are identified, monitored and regulated as of yesterday.
India produces one of the highest volumes of fake medicines, fake Paneer, Fake eggs, Fake milk, Fake Khoya, so what's stopping the people from setting up fake Elderly Care agencies......
This does not mean that the entire sector is fake. Since Social Welfare is a State subject hence it's important that Minimum National Standards should be enforced otherwise each state will have different versions of this subject, which can be detrimental in the overall collective growth of the industry.
Pankaj Mehrotra
