Prime
Like hotels, clinics should also be rated
What you need to know:
- Happiness is not a destination but a journey, and it is found in the simple joys of everyday life
If you have been in any clinic or hospital in the past few years, you must have realised how the medical personnel’s attitude has changed. Doctors and medical practitioners in general used to be the most altruistic people in society.
Not only did they keep our deepest and most sensitive secrets private but you could trust them to give you the best advice concerning your health, with or without a fee.
We would watch American films about patients left unattended to because they did not have medical insurance in disbelief because we knew doctors would treat your whole family for a year without pay.
After all, their principal goal was to save lives and not to make money. But not anymore, now when dealing with medical practitioners you have to have your wits around you or risk losing even the shirt on your back as per the many shocking stories that make it to the media and the so many that do not.
Recently, a friend who is very meticulous about his hygiene got a cotton ball stuck in his ear canal. All efforts to remove it drove it further into the ear cavity, causing a very uncomfortable feeling. Because this is not a common problem and most people always try to leave their ears alone, his efforts to access free advice were unfruitful. So, he decided to go to the nearest hospital.
Once he had explained his predicament, he was asked to deposit Shs200,000 with the cashier and told to wait. After waiting for close to five hours, he finally got to see the doctor and the procedure lasted about 10 minutes since he did not require any sort of preparation or anesthesia.
Little did he know he would wish for anesthesia after receiving the bill of Shs860,000. As he ran around looking for the money, he kept blaming himself for not seeing the trap he had walked himself into.
He recounts how he asked to know how much the procedure would cost but the personnel said they could not tell without knowing its complexity.
When he was given the bill, he asked how they had discovered the complexity without talking to the doctor. He even pointed out that the only instruments the doctor used were surgical gloves.
They told him it does not change the cost. While sharing this story, a friend related a story of an unfortunate couple whose infant choked on porridge and was charged Shs16m to suck up the porridge from his air passage.
Cheating patients
Recently, there was a post on social media where a doctor while castigating his fellow doctors highlighted ways in which doctors overcharge and cheat patients.
These include setting up elective surgery on women without a valid diagnosis, admitting and keeping patients on wards without any reason, admitting patients and keeping them in intensive care units without any reason or viable results, and carrying out surgeries on brain-dead patients who the doctors know will not survive.
Prescription of expensive and excess drugs when there are cheaper drugs and a smaller amount would be sufficient.
With our limping health care system, private medical clinics are the only available alternative when we get ill. These places are not regulated and so, the patients find themselves at the mercy of these merciless doctors.
But we can fight back by:
Referring any doctors that still charge fair prices. There are there and they are many but they are a vulnerable group because as they watch their unscrupulous classmates get ahead in life, it becomes hard for them to continue doing the right thing. But we can encourage them by referring patients so they will be able to thrive.
Know cost first
Always insist on knowing how much everything costs before you are treated. This way, you can decide beforehand if you can afford it or not instead of being surprised by hidden costs.
Always seek explanations for the choice of drugs that are being prescribed. I know some people fear to ask for fear of being misunderstood but if you keep quiet, there is no one to blame but you. Remember as philosopher John Stuart Mill pointed out, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Rating
Lastly, there should be a body that grades these hospitals so one picks a hospital according to their income, just as we choose hospitality facilities.
80%
How to fight overcharges. Request an itemised bill and dispute inaccuracies.Ask the provider or hospital for an itemized bill. Because 80 percent of medical bills contain an error, you may find duplicate or incorrect charges.
Use a medical coding tool to translate medical procedure codes and medical diagnosis codes to understand each charge. If there are any discrepancies, immediately dispute them.
