What is the point?

It started as a chat with a doctor who had returned recently from the USA after acquiring super specialization to settle in India. He was critical, of-course justifiably, about the hygiene controls that we have in India. He said that American schools had so much protection that it is nearly impossible for a child to contract infection. Here in India we let the children to play anywhere, anytime. As a true chatterbox, I queried, “So, why are people so worried about spiraling medical costs and medical insurance? They should be healthier and medical costs should be of lesser concern.”

He pondered for a moment and said,” You have a point there…. In India, we suffer from infection, whereas in US they suffer from allergy”.

“Are they any healthier than us?”

“No. They get better options so far as healthcare is concerned.”

Chat over. Later, as any true inquisitive cat would do, I goggled! (Well, it can’t kill me!!), about the US healthcare industry and found the data below at http://www.themedica.com/industry-overview.html

The United States of America has one of the largest medical and healthcare industries in the world, followed by Switzerland and Germany. The USA's medical industry comprises of more than 750,000 physicians and 5,200 hospitals. USA witnesses approximately 3.8 million inpatient visits and 20 million outpatients visit on a daily basis. Furthermore, the United States of America has the largest workforce i.e. one in every 11 US residents employed in the health care business. 

The Global prescription drug market was $550 billion in the year 2006. Also, the total health care expenditures across the world were $4.5 trillion last year. Of which, US solely account for $ 2.2 trillion, $ 2 trillion in OECD countries and remaining $ 0.3 in other countries of the world.

I also found the data below about the healthcare industry in India at (http://www.economywatch.com/world-industries/health-care/india.html)

The rate of growth of the health care industry in India is moving ahead neck to neck with the pharmaceutical industry and the software industry of the country. Much has been said and done in the health care sector for bringing about improvement. Till date, approximately 12% of the scope offered by the health care industry in India has been tapped. The health care industry in India is reckoned to be the engine of the economy in the years to come. Health care industry in India is worth $17 billion and is anticipated to grow by 13% every year. The health care sector encompasses health care instruments, health care in the retail market, hospitals enrolled to the hospital networks etc.

Expenses incurred by the Indian Government on health care is the highest amongst developing countries. India's expenses on health care sector comprises 5.25% of the GDP. Chances are that the health care market could experience a hike and attain a figure ranging between $53 to $73 billion five years from now. This in turn will reflect an increase in the gross domestic product to 6.2% GDP. The health care industry in India earns revenues accounting for 5.2% of GDP.

Employment opportunities are provided to as many as 4 million people in the health care segment or other related sectors catering to the health care industry in India in some way or the other. Owing to the vast differences in medical expenses in western countries and that of India, India has become one of the favorites for health care treatments.

Due to the progressive nature of the health care sector in India, several foreign companies are intending to invest in the country.

Now, to continue our chat, it is debatable to say that the billion in India is healthier than the Americans, but Americans do not seem to be better of. I leave it to you to find the exact statistics, but am sure that you would not argue if I say that USA spends 50% of the world spend on healthcare. So can I infer that they are the sickest lot? Well, that will be simplistic. Wait a minute… I think it is worth a thought. Here is country that spends billions of dollars in hygiene, but spends further in healthcare. Isn’t that funny?

Google dictionary says,” Conditions or practices conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease, esp. through cleanliness”

Yessir... I have prevented infestation, but am not healthy. I have lifestyle problems and allergy.

Like, wotz the point of being hygienic if your medical costs are not coming down… dude, if I am spending money on hygiene to keep me healthy, I better spend less on my medical costs.”

So what am I suggesting? So should we stop being hygienic?

No sir… not yet… I am trying to see if the answer lies elsewhere. Hygiene is definitely required, but how much? Let’s get to the basics

Many of us may be surprised to know that we happen to live in a planet called earth which we share interdependently with many other species. Just as we are parasites on earth depending on warmth from sun for blood circulation, plants and animals for food, earth to move around etc… there are small living beings called germs that occupy this space. For these germs, the human system is the world. Let me put it this way.

Let’s imagine that a human is a society of a billion germs (i.e. I’m substituting the word “germs” to “body cells”) which are interdependent and these germs help each other in living together forming a closed society called body (Let’s think this is USA). However when there is an effort by another germ enter this society (Say erstwhile USSR), the germs that belong to the society try to fight – which we call immunity. When these germs are not able to directly attack the invaders, they hire mercenaries called medicines (inorganic chemicals akin to Saddam Hussien and Bin Laden) and indulge in terrorism. The invader is defeated (i.e. USSR disintegrates). Now we have double effect. The terrorists do not have work so they attack the body (9/11 Twin tower happens, “side effect” in medical terms). The invading germ has disintegrated and is not there in that form (USSR). But is has mutated into different forms of germs (The broken states of USSR that are at conflict with each other such as Bosnia etc.). So sir, the world is still at conflict with itself and is not better than it was before. It is only facing a different problem, which is at present just simmering and waiting to blow up at an opportune time.

Hygiene is basically an effort by us to get away from natural predators / parasites that depend on us to survive. Also a wise man once told that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. Can we apply this logic to sharing space with the other species in this world? Life can neither be created nor be destroyed. It only changes form. If you do not allow a particular germ to live and attack it in a particular form, it mutates. If I have used chemical and terminated a germ, what happened to the carcass?

If we eat for 30 rupees and learn to adapt to the immediate environment we live in by spending another 20 rupees, the world can be a peacefully regenerating place for all species to survive. Instead what is happening now is as below. There are a set of people who eat for 70 rupees. They become overweight and spend 30 rupees a day on the gym.. and oh yes they damage the immune system too. They do not lose sufficient weight. So still they fall ill. They spend 100 rupees consulting a doctor. The doctor takes cut from laboratories and prescribes tests costing them 100 rupees. Then the doctor takes cut from pharma companies, blames it on some poor germ which is trying to eek out a living from a unhealthy person and prescribes medicines for 100 rupees. They go to the medical shop, buy medicines for 100 rupees and packaged drinking water for 15 rupees. This packaged drinking water was originally drawn from the well in their backyard, which if they had preserved and drawn would have cost them less than a rupee to get. So basically a GDP which should have been 50 rupees ended up being 415 rupees. This is the story of “growth” oriented rich people.

There is another set of people who cannot afford to spend 30 rupees on food and the 20 rupees on adapting. They too fall ill. So government provides them with free medication, to fund which they in turn try to tax the former.

What is the point of this article? Well, the point is to ask “what is the point?”

What is the point in being hygienic?
What is the point in running behind economic growth?
What is the point in building a system that invariably only fails at some point or other?
What is the point of running away from nature, while science originally set out to find out the truth about nature?

Can the answer lie in living with the germs? Should we start littering the places where we live?

The idea is to understand and accept that we are part of an earth that houses a large variety of things, living and inanimate. Inviting ideas on how to modify our lifestyle to world that gives space to human ambitions while being sensitive to the fact that we are just part of a whole.

What is the point? – Give it a shot…. you may be surprised…