Forget house calls.
In America, it’s hard to get doctors to even pay attention to you, whether you have insurance or lack it. The greedy swines are forever looking at the clock, hoping to  squeeze in as many people into their hectic schedules as inhumanly possible. (Indian doctors in America are among the worst. They are rude, cocky and boorish. In the last 20 years, our best medical experiences have been with a male Pakistani doctor and a lady German physician).
In so many years, we’ve never heard of doctors making house calls in America (maybe they do in some forgotten corner).
If you ask an American doctor whether he makes house calls, he’d promptly refer you to a psychiatrist and order a battery of tests.
Back when we were growing up in India, things were very different. Family doctors listened to what you had to say, asked questions, routinely made house calls and provided a reassuring feeling (even if the diagnosis turned out to be unwelcome later).Â
We’d go to our family doctor’s clinic and sometimes the doctor wouldn’t be there. The assistant would tell us that the doctor had gone to see a sick patient. Nothing unusual about it. It was the norm. We waited patiently because we knew that one day that the doctor might be visiting a different patient – us.
But we read and hear that things are changing in India too now.
And for the worse.
Apparently caught up in the greed-trap, many doctors and private hospitals in India are suffocating sick patients and their families by recommending unnecessary tests and over-prescribing.
Rulings by the Delhi Consumer Commission and media reports in Indian newspapers suggest an intensifying healthcare tragedy in India for the less privileged sections.
Coming to the big question: Are doctors making house calls anymore in India – in the cities, small towns and villages?
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S.I. : If you ask an American doctor whether he makes house calls, he’d promptly refer you to a psychiatrist and order a battery of tests.
same goes for indian docs also… Indian docs are nothing but polished sales agents of pharma tycoons…
for e.g., there is a famous Plavix vs Clavix issue there.. both are same compositions and solve same purpose but one costs 20 times the other… the docs prescribe the costlier one (mostly to uneducated poor people so the will never quesion) and get perks if the region’s sales reaches target…literally, sucking and drinking the blood of the poor.. this is the situation of ‘dedication’ of indian docs…
SearchIndia.com Responds:
But do doctors still make house calls…meaning do they visit the homes to treat sick patients (we don’t mean telephone calls)?
With doctors here, it depends on the generation….the older generation still treats it as a noble profession, while the newer generation is more like the ones in U.S……but family doctors (most belong to the former category) do call up and listen to our problems- atleast in my case…….anyway, we are facing a different kind of a problem here….interest in the profession is on the wane……students are not enthusiastic about medicine as it takes a lot of time to be a successful doctor (5yrs grad. + 1 yr intern. + 3 yrs speciality or super-speciality which is necessary now-a-days)-a newspaper even ran an article which says that a doctor reaches the peak of his career in mid forties,while engineers at around thirty…..management students are even faster….many seats in medical colleges went empty this year……
SearchIndia.com Responds:
But do doctors still make house calls…meaning do they visit the homes to treat sick patients (we don’t mean telephone calls)?
I think those days are gone.. even before Aditya was born.. when doctors used to charge 3 rupees. Now not even a beggar would want 3 rupees.
In many cases, a pea-brained IT guy (or coolie ) makes more dough than a successful doctor.. And the cost of studying medicine is very prohibitive, I heard.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: I think those days are gone..
Some days we think all change is for the worse.
not in the cities…no…in small towns (like kharagpur), villages,probably yes…..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Is all change for the worse?
still waiting for dil chahta hai review….
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Coming in a few days.
trey,a doctor charging 3 Rs?? wow….really? yes, MBBS is an expensive deal,but i disagree with what you say about successful doctors not making enough money…..its very tough to become a ‘successful’ doctor but if you do, you earn way beyond an IT professional(still prefer calling him that!!) can dream…..from what SI says about doctors in the U.S.,they must be earning well too…..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Doctors in the U.S. make good money but are forever whining about malpractice insurance and lawsuit-happy patients.
Is all change for the worse?–for the common man? YES….people are more selfish today than ever…for a doctor? I’d say its Diwali for him/her everyday now…..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: people are more selfish today than ever
We definitely have not done as much as we should have.
But we have done a little bit – buying and donating new books to a government library and giving some money to a rural area hospital for treatment of poor patients, both in India of course.
S.I.: But do doctors still make house calls…meaning do they visit the homes to treat sick patients (we don’t mean telephone calls)?
They will if you are ready to pay them a grand for a visit.. for money they will even come down and clean your backyard here…
To answer your question – Yes … Doctors do make house calls today … the practice is still widely prevalent … in cities they may ask you – if you are in a position to come to the dispensary … if no …then they agree immediatedly … especially in case of senior citizens , ladies etc
Doctors just go by the situation and take a call … maybe if lot of patients are waiting and its not urgent ..then they may refuse to come ..
These decisions are not motivated by money ….
Indians have this habit of wanting everything for free or at very cheap prices .. so if a doctor says Rs 25 is my consultation fees … our guy would say .. Oh in those days it was Rs 5 or Rs 10 .. now he is looting …
Most of them are good .. few black sheep .. here and there may exist
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: Doctors do make house calls today … the practice is still widely prevalent
Some like Joe Antony & Aditya feel that this is on the wane and has mostly disappeared.
God, how we hope you are right & they are wrong.
Good healthcare must be the birthright of every citizen in every country in our view (as if our view matters ).
You write above: Indians have this habit of wanting everything for free or at very cheap prices ..
Very true. We’ve seen Indian shoppers in the U.S. telling the desi store owners not to give them a bill so that they can save on tax. Most of the time, our Indian storeowners oblige too.
We think the reason is partly cultural, partly lack of money and partly rapacious greed.
Joe said: They will if you are ready to pay them a grand for a visit.. for money they will even come down and clean your backyard here…
Hey, that’s not nice. Because of some scumbags, you cannot put down the most noble profession like that.
Signed: Superintendent of PC police