[voletti]

NHS is what happens when government runs healthcare.

India's hospitals - the large urban ones anyway - are privately run. These hospitals have an incentive to attract paying patients and word-of-mouth referrals. Their pharma industry produces generics at some of the lowest unit costs in the world and is now doing contract R&D for western firms. NHS treats its patients like the captive customers they are.

India's govt run healthcare sucks royally too, btw.

[Miztiki]

I spent 6 months in London a few years ago. While there, I had a recurrence of syptoms. (I had a brain tumor removed in 2001.)

I had my American doctor fax me a “prescription” for an MRI and brought it to the neighborhood general practioner. (Under NHS rules, you may only see the doctor dealing with your area.)

I told him why I was there and he said it would take around 6 months to get me in for an MRI. 6 MONTHS!!

I told him I would be paying cash for the procedure and his eyes lit up and he said it would only take a couple/few months in that case. Well golly, ain’t that wonderful?

My husband had a friend who is a doctor there who was able to get me in within a few days. Good thing I had inside connections.

For anyone who doesn’t understand why government paid healthcare is a bad idea, here’s one example that reflects the experiences of so many under NHS rules. So many suffer and even die while waiting for sub-standard treatment.

[GovernmentShrinker]

He said it was more than four hours before his wife was given a bed on a surgical ward, and staff then told him that the hospital was not able to handle patients with head injuries who required rehabilitation.

Gotta love that timeline.

She fell out of bed and broke her jaw during her stay at the Western.

Well they TOLD him they weren't able to handle patients in her condition (raiseable bed-rails being advanced equipment that's available only at specialized hospital facilities).

[cmdjing]

For all the perceived ills of socialized medicine, the comparison of the treatment received in India and Britain is completely apples and oranges. You are comparing what is the creme-de-le-creme of Indian hospitals that only the wealthiest of native Indians and white memsahibs will ever see the inside of, to a hospital open to all the citizens of the UK.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather wait for treatment than to be left to die on the street which is what 99% of Indians would face in the event of a major illness.

[SunkenCiv]

:’o