Most people would have a lot of superlatives to describe the health care system in the developed western world especially when compared to the underprivileged and poor developing countries. There is no doubt that they are ranked as the best when it comes to the facilities, cleanliness and hygiene in the medical arena. But after having experienced the way they operate for over a decade, my ideas have undergone a drastic reversal and more than something does not seem to be quite right.
First of all, the system is terribly expensive to sustain, not entirely due to the highly sophisticated instruments and procedures followed, but also the exorbitantly high salary that the doctors command making it a strain on the resources of the government and the exchequer. But all that would be tolerable if a patient got the right treatment and care that they want and deserve. Unfortunately that is not so and because of the shortage of doctors and hospitals there is a lengthy list and queue for patients who desperately need attention and care. Is that the price to pay for a modern health-care system? Thus, it is hardly surprising that many of these patients have no option when they resort to getting treatments done in many far-away ? third-world? countries at a fraction of the cost but with much lesser facilities.
Moreover, even when they do get the treatment done here, the outcome is far from satisfactory. It has been my personal observation that modern doctors rely heavily on tests and machines with no practical sense or knowledge. After all, a machine can always go wrong and there have been many instances of a wrong diagnosis based on a faulty reading or test. These doctors treat only the symptoms not the disease and prescribe medicines that would make the patient come back again and again, getting them hooked to the prescription drug sometimes throughout their life-time. I have very rarely seen somebody cured of the disease completely even after undergoing expensive surgeries.
This may have a lot to do with the clout of the pharmaceutical companies to promote their drugs and their links to the medical practitioners as well as the politicians. And it is especially true in the United States where the pharmaceutical giants call the shots in government health regulations and have a say in the government policies. This does not allow any alternative source of medicine to be practised or licensed.
It is very rare to come across an individual here over the age of thirty who is not into prescription drug and resorts to some form of pill-popping or other to keep themselves healthy. Given the fact that these prescription drugs are certainly not a desirable thing to ingest in the body, many of them having multiple side-effects and almost all of them building up into a long-term toxicity in the body. Having worked on cell-toxicology, I have first-hand knowledge of how much harm even micro-quantities of chemicals can cause to the cells and DNA. Of course, a person in pain would give anything to get out of the discomfort and does not have much choice, but often minor ailments can be treated in other ways. Add to this the birth-control and sleeping pills that even healthy young people are taking regularly and you certainly have a problem in hand.
When it comes to eating healthy, there are again many misconceptions. There are numerous people who advocate the cause of eating healthy organic food and are very strictly against the use of fertilizers and pesticides in their foodstuff. A lot of people also feel very strongly about genetically modified food although there has been no recorded instance of this causing any disease or illness. But at the same time, these people do not think twice when it comes to taking prescription drugs on a regular basis.
Moreover, the modern diet has a lot to account for regarding the growing incidence of cancer here in the west. Doing away with cooking and consuming processed and canned food is the norm here, but nobody thinks about the harmful preservatives and chemicals that they are also ingesting. Fast food, red meat, aerated drinks and beverages, alcohol, sweets and desserts are all part of the average individual diet. It is no wonder that obesity is on the rise here. Although a lot of people are increasingly becoming aware of what they consume and are also including yogurt, fresh fruits and vegetables in their meals these days but again the yogurt carries preservatives and the salads come with fat-rich dressings that defeat the whole purpose.
One only has to look at the diet in the far-east especially in their consumption of fresh vegetables, seafood, seaweeds, mushrooms all of which contribute a lot to the lower incidence of cancer and higher longevity there. But the saving grace and only thing that I find really commendable, is the ability of the people in the west to keep themselves active and fit. There are now a growing number of people who carry out rigorous work-outs and exercise regimes and lead active life-styles compared to the people in the more underdeveloped world; but then not everyone fits into this category. This really contributes immensely to living a healthy life and warding off debilitating diseases and it also adds years to their life-span.
Even now, it is not too late for people to realize that modernization is not always the healthiest way. We used to be organic long before pesticides and fertilizers came on the scene. People cooked their own food fresh before fast-food chains and super-markets came into business. And we used to have doctors who relied on years of experience and practical knowledge and not fancy gadgets to diagnose a disease.
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