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Comment by hiyer | Hacker News Reader

True, but what I'm saying is there's no reason to mistrust the hospitals as I've not seen the alleged behaviour at all. Add to that the fact that you don't even need to go to a hospital to get yourself tested in the first place - in most cities you can get it done by a professional at home (though it's possible OP's parents live in a rural area where this facility is not available).

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> True, but what I'm saying is there's no reason to mistrust the hospital

That doesn't matter _if people don't trust the hospitals_. Whether or not there's a reason for it is insignificant.

> as I've not seen the alleged behaviour at all

As an aside, one anecdote doesn't mean that there's no reason to mistrust the hospital. I have elderly relatives in care homes, and I've not seen them abused. That doesn't mean there's not a problem with abuse in care homes here in the UK

Exactly right!. Some people take their own example from a privileged position and claim that everyone can get same treatment/service.

Well, it's not one anecdote - it's 70+ in my apartment complex and probably 100+ overall, but I get your point.

it is one anecdote. Too many indians of privilege do not appreciate the fact that the majority of the country does not have that same privilege. Seventy people around you are all in the same social strata as you.

Are you saying not being admitted to a hospital is a privilege? I would think that if a hospital did want to fleece someone, gainfully employed and insured people would be the best candidates rather than poor people who may not be able to afford the treatment.

Trusting hospitals is the privilege being referred to.

The situation is far worse in smaller towns and cities in places like Bihar and UP. I remember hearing stories during the second wave (some of which I was able to confirm) about doctors not telling family members that their loved ones had passed away so as to be able to keep charging the family for continued hospital care. The loss of trust in the medical profession is very real.

I’m not from India and for the longest time it was tempting to think of India as one homogeneous place; but that is not what it’s like at all. Isn’t India enormous, with many quite different states and different levels of development? And bottom line, what percent of the population has access to good quality health services vs what the GP described?

This is exactly right. The disparity in the level of healthcare that you would get in an Indian state like Bihar vs that in a state like Kerala is similar to the difference you'd expect between Sub-Saharan Africa and a second world Eastern European country.

Can confirm. Have personally seen this in Patna, Bihar.

> doctors not telling family members that their loved ones had passed away so as to be able to keep charging the family for continued hospital care.

While I've heard anecdotally that this happens, I find it hard to believe that this happened during the second wave when hospitals were, in general, being overrun with patients and running out of beds and oxygen cylinders. Why would you want to risk getting caught doing this when you anyway have a long queue of prospective patients waiting for a bed?

Even in the US, there's a segment of the population who are getting themselves killed by not getting vaccinated and then refusing to accept proper medical care at the hospital because they believe that COVID is a conspiracy and that medical practitioners are in on the scheme. They roll in 5 days after they start showing symptoms with low oxygen levels hoping to find a doctor who will prescribe ivermectin and vitamins to become self-fulfilling prophecies when doctors refuse to treat them with things that aren't approved or helpful.

Also in Europe. Death by ozonotherapy is real.

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