An Unhealthy Paradox

The human race is strange to say the least (I could say despicable but let’s go with strange). We see ourselves as martyr’s when life pulls us down. We believe ourselves chosen if we suffer. We let our beliefs in a greater power guide us straight to religions that haven’t made sense since it was propagated by self-promoting people, who dictated what we should or shouldn’t do. We think near death experiences can make us achieve some sort of ‘nirvana’ and we go around preaching to others how we re-discovered our life after the experience. We spew philosophical nonsenses that really help no one.

Poverty is glorified by self-serving politicians so that they can bank on you voting for them, by doling out a few incentives. People in the corridors of power have spent years, plotting and planning strategies to keep most of the world hungry, sick and in need so that they could make a killing on it. We pay them to keep us miserable. We have the powerful few who control governments world over like the drug mafia, (and I am not talking of narcotics alone), the oil mafia, the tobacco mafia etc. etc. etc. Money is the key here.

Take for instance, the recent rule that makes it mandatory for doctors to prescribe generic medicines. There was a long debate as to how helpful it will be for the common man. And truly it doesn’t seem to matter because where the doctor used to write down the brand name of the medicines, now the pharmacist just hands it to you. The most popular, the one with the most profit margins will be given to the patient. The same was the case of putting caps on stents. People who could afford went for the imported variety that could cost a small fortune or as per the recommendations of the doctor. As soon as a cap was announced on how much could be charged, the companies selling them started withdrawing their products, creating a huge gap in the market. A scam on how duplicate and cheap implants were being sold to patients through doctors was unearthed recently; the patient be damned.

A disease like cancer has become so rampant and common that every time you turn around you are sure to meet a cancer survivor or a cancer patient. Every family it seems has one. Governments claim to be putting in millions of dollars into cancer research. As it becomes more curable it becomes that much more common.

WHO estimates that the almost 14 million new cases were discovered in 2012 and it is expected to rise by 70% over the next two decades. It is said to be a leading cause of morbidity worldwide and is the second biggest killer with over 8.8 million deaths worldwide. Of these, Tobacco usage is the most important risk factor and is responsible for about 25% cases in low and middle income countries. In India the tobacco industry’s contribution to the exchequer was Rs 10271 crores and Rs 2022 crores by the way of foreign exchange. Need we say more?

Meanwhile, we continue to glamorise the disease. If you are a celebrity and a cancer survivor, be sure to get a book deal on cancer survival and how it changed you. Cute love stories are written and made into movies with the protagonist suffering from cancer. Awareness campaigns though are few and far in-between. Maybe on World Cancer Day we talk a few lines on the disease and then go back to our lives leaving these patients to deal in their own way.

A disease that once spelt the death knell for a sufferer is now curable, if diagnosed early. But in most cases the diagnostic procedure itself takes weeks, even months sometimes. The psychological impact of a cancer diagnosis is devastating to say the least. No words can describe the effect it has, not only on the patients but the whole family as a whole. Words can never explain the anguish and pain that everyone around the patient goes through.   

The economics of the disease is another blow to the patient. WHO statistics estimates it at $1.16 trillion USD and ever rising. Does this beg another question? Is Cancer cure, a thriving business? The test, the doctor’s consultation fees and the medicines cost a fortune to the patient. But what choice does a person suffering have? WHO data says between 30-50% of the cases can be prevented. So ask this question, why is everyone including the policy makers and the medical profession not spending even a fraction on prevention and awareness?

For months now, messages like, cancer is an industry and not a disease or cancer is a deficiency and not a disease, have been doing the rounds in social media. There had been no word from the people in the know either refuting or agreeing with the article. At least let us know what we are dealing with.

Diabetes is another such disease and so is thyroid related disease and so on and so forth. WHO lists ways and means of controlling these diseases through awareness and life-style changes and dietary control. So instead of putting in millions through curative care, why are we not talking about preventive care?

The curious thing is while the government of India has banned advertisements for alcohols, which are targeted at adults, who are fully aware of the effects of drinking, they are mum on advertisements for fat-laden fast foods and sugar and pesticide laden cold drinks for children. Is the contribution of these industries to the ex-chequer the only priority? What are we going to do with all the money and the ‘economic progress’ if we have a generation of sickly people who cannot manage their own lives? How is wiping out a generation with contaminated and unhealthy food, the progress we need? 

Will we wipe out the human race just so that we can earn a few dollars? What a paradox! Money is being earned by letting a whole generation get sick and then millions are spent on getting them curative care. Whatever happened to Health is wealth.