The most unfortunate section of the modern society has been given a very pertinent name: Patient. For centuries this section has been very patiently bearing a level of abominable torture that would have broken the backs of any other slave class in history.
Gandhiji was of the opinion that the consumer should be king. No wonder the great leader is no longer relevant today. If the consumer is king in the health sector, huge empires can never be built. The patient must patiently allow the humongous growth of disease, sales, and profits to receive service in the “health” sector.
The nakedness of the exploitative structure has once again come to the fore as a group of brave conscientious doctors and activists known for their exemplary work in ensuring generic drugs began another much needed initiative.
The group launched the Right to Health campaign and ultimately the Govt of Rajasthan has finally put the official seal on it. But there are big gaps thanks to the big shots who tried their best to torpedo it. Anything that remotely empowers the patient is bad news for a sector who have become accustomed to the ever docile “patient”.
The crusader doctors have narrated how they have been called the enemy of the profession. I know much more has taken place as these doctors had the temerity to call the profession “healers” that are supposed to exercise compassion for their subjects. How dare they!
The Right to Health Bill was attacked first by the IMA who could, with the tremendous backing of Big Pharma, delete many of its clauses. The emasculated venture then became subject to a state wide strike that put the Government on the backfoot. Two things led to that upheaval. The private sector needed to attend to emergency cases for free; fees to be reimbursed later. The second was the term “Right”. Hey, from when did slaves get rights?
The Govt had to ultimately bow down and dilute the Bill further. The profession took it as a massive victory and celebrated in every platform. They had won! Now what kind of a win is this?
In the State of Kerala a draconian public health Bill has made a small concession. It has a provision for holistic systems. The IMA spewed fire again and slammed the “quackery”.
Conveniently a study from the State revealed “deaths from homeopathic preventive pills”. The researcher had found around 18mcg of a substance distilled from 1 kg of medicated pills. This amount slightly exceeded the safety limit for one time consumption. It did not bother the researcher that consuming 1 kg pills would take much more than a year even if consumed several times a day. In practice 4 pills are taken once in a day for 3 days! But this grabbed headlines throughout the country.
In Covid times the mayhem exceeded all past limits. People died needlessly. They were looted. Even insurance companies protested and pointed out the loot. Entire families were ruined; losing the bread earner and paying the bills. Nobody came to the aid of the “patient” who was subjected to experimental drugs and vaccines. Excess deaths among those subjected to the poison sticks are being pointed out globally. Nobody is bothered.
Currently there is news that AI can predict disease 5 years before it happens. Can it predict when people will be healthy? Can it predict when the exploitation will stop? Can it predict if the “health sector” can lead to health? Can it predict when the patient will become impatient?
How much more patient must the patient be? What karma has he committed to be treated such? To which God does he turn for relief, now that Presidents and Prime Ministers have not only failed but actively colluded against him?
The plight of the patient requires serious thought. From the beggar on the street to the heads of countries all have experienced injustice and exploitation but there is no serious effort to solve the problem once and for all. All seem to be hypnotized under its spell. We have created a new caste system with a new breed of priests.
Why is the world powerless? This system has defined its own rules and got them ratified by countries. It has ensured a monopoly, normalized disease and placed itself as the sole saviour. It has ensured a huge marketing network and the resultant income flows to a wide array of stakeholders. It has a hold on the media that advertises its failures as success.
The money that flows into its coffers has increased its powers manifold and the entry of powerful business entities seeking quick returns and high growth makes it invincible as these entities know how to paralyze the system.
While insurance is being projected as the answer, the fact that families are paying yearly premiums of more than a lakh belies the claim. The insurance money is easy return and the bills are generated based on the sum assured. Insurance has broadened the scope of the loot and made it easy.
The system is today the largest employer and almost every household has a member gaining from the salaries earned and business generated. Therefore there are very few who are willing to open their mouths to protest. The whole world has become “patient”.
The absolute lack of public resistance and the blind belief of the people emboldened the system to launch Covid with fanfare. While the cause remains unresolved, the draconian measures undertaken under the excuse of greater good continue to take a heavy toll. Studies have proven without doubt that measures like use of experimental drugs and vaccines, lockdowns and masks, worsened the situation. In the background a huge wealth transfer was noticed favouring the ultra rich earning the pandemic the epithet of being a plandemic.
Modern medicine has led to universal sickness. This is because it fails to move according to scientific research that has overtaken the ancient theories it proceeds upon. This has led to a situation where opening of a hospital in every street has become a reality.
No state can finance this demand and there is pressure that the state should altogether withdraw from the health sector leaving the playing field for the wolves. There is a plan to privatize the entire set up including the generic drugs initiative of the Govt.
There must be a way out of this mess. There must be a David somewhere to tackle this Goliath that threatens to decimate all life on earth.
The patients of the world must become impatient if they wish to save their lives. Inaction will cost very dear as unexpected events will catch them unaware. There is no one to protect except the aware individual who can look after himself.
Doctors and scientists have not designed this system, neither do they control it. They are simply practitioners bound by its rules. When ordered they act blindly. The medical system is in the grip of tremendously powerful elements whose agenda is not what is openly declared.
The WHO Pandemic Treaty that will be ready in May 2024 passed by a simple vote will turn the world into a laboratory and the people into Lab Rats as measures like the drastic and unscientific Covid response will become mandatory, legally binding, and countries refusing to tow punished with hefty fines.
Even as it plans the unprecedented assault, the hallowed organization known as the WHO talks about equity, empathy, and compassion. The system under it boasts of innovative gene therapy, nanobots as the evolving technique to deliver immortality, body tissues and processes harnessed for fueling new wireless systems to facilitate health, and the universalization of the gene editing shots that are the new toy. It is “worried” about yearly epidemics ignoring the fact that it in itself is the problem.
What should be done in this juncture?
- Both Governments and civil society should wake up to the imminent threat and urgently take up counter measures;
- The people should be made aware of the basics of health and holistic health approaches. They should become the custodians of their own health
- There should be powerful grassroot lobbies demanding safe food, toxin free environment, and space for exercise
- Low cost naturopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda and unani clinics should be widely established taking precedence over prohibitively expensive glittery 5 star corporate style ventures that are a huge strain on budgets fed by public taxes
- Books and pamphlets in local languages teaching the principles of health must be distributed in physical and electronic form
- People should be taught the cause and value of acute diseases and that they are the rectification and self healing attempts of the body to be tackled judiciously with minimal intervention, rest and hydration
- Large scale herbal plantations in natural surroundings must be taken up in earnest
- Pharmacies manufacturing herbal and homeopathic drugs must be monitored and subsidised to further bring down costs. The products should be made available in generic medicine stores
- Kitchen nutrition and herbal gardens must be encouraged wherever there is scope along with training sessions
- The livestock industry and fisheries must be kept free of toxic injections and hormones. The current spate of scientific experimentation in this sector must be stopped to save this resource and prevent the produce from causing harm
- The people must be taught the value of nutrition retaining cooking, compatible and non compatible food, the dangers of junk and processed food, and the benefits of a raw diet
- The PDS system must ensure food safety and nutritional value. Instead of spending trillions on “treatment” the PDS should be diversified and extended to the middle class also. Food is the first and foremost health intervention
- Natural farming must be adopted to ensure soil health and safe diversified nutritious food. Farmers should be trained and empowered with the knowledge that once they were proud of
- Forests must be revived as per their natural composition benefitting flora and fauna, and the environment. Urban and semi urban areas must have adequate tree cover.
- Habitats must be designed keeping in mind health/ safety of populations and also the burden on earth
- Technology should be evaluated for health impacts. Unsafe technology should be restricted to their intended use and not allowed in public space
- Unregistered health practitioners serving in rural areas must be educated on the right way to treat by doctors of their own modalities
- Short term courses on holistic sciences must be allowed for people who want to learn and help themselves and others to enable a voluntary task force
- A BSc (Health) course should be introduced based on the basic determinants of health to create a genuine public health force
- The modern day doctors must be taught the principles of holistic medicine, the rights of patients, and also the developments in the field of medicine that negate current practices
- Morbidity should be an important measure of health outcomes. Rising sickness in society must be recognized as a failure of medicine. The goal of medicine should be a strong and healthy population devoid of chronic disease
- The harmful effects of “public health” initiatives of modern medicine should be discussed in various platforms and alternatives identified. A protocol for detoxification should be developed and applied
- The patient has several important rights awarded via national and international judgments and conventions. These rights need to be given full legal backing and their infringement punishable
- There should be civil society led associations composed of legal and thematic experts to support the patient when he is in trouble and finds himself helpless. These associations should also be empowered to initiate action against wrongs committed. They should be proactive in reaching out to the intended population
- All supervisory bodies in the health sector must have civil society representatives to ensure transparency and justice
- Conflict of interest must lead to immediate disqualification in every aspect of health care
- There should be pressure on the Government to exit the WHO and set up its own integrated health system. This is a global call issued by conscientious doctors and their bodies worried at the developments
- Current medical associations must be reformed and reorganized to look after the interests of the public and practitioners and not protect pharma interests
- The forgotten and neglected doctors oath of “First do no harm” should define the ethos of the profession and be its guiding principle. This single step will revolutionize outcomes as all interventions have to be evaluated on this basis. If the goal of medicine is health and wellness no one should have any objection to this simple step.
- The practitioners should not benefit from the prescription. This can be achieved by nationalizing the health system. It is not difficult if we adopt a health focused system that will bring down costs and be less drug oriented.
- Health also requires moral and ethical, and education on lifestyle and meditation as a stress beating tool.
There will be huge and nasty opposition against these measures. There will be attempts to turn the world upside down. These steps will be called crazy and unscientific. The people should stand firm in their resolve for their lives and health is at stake.
Once they take this stance they will find plenty of mainstream doctors on their side. The doctors have realized the futility of disease management. They too want to help and cure people. They need an opportunity to emerge from the prison of corporate medicine.
Please remember this is the last opportunity to set things right. The current WHO leader is soon set to assume dictatorial powers infringing upon the rights of individuals and laws of state.
This will have serious implications for people worldwide as the current “prevention and treatment” tools being sharpened to be launched are formidable, invincible and their adverse effects impossible to counter. Eternal rest will be the only saving grace.
There is also the plan, already set in motion, to tackle any opposition to the intent to harm by labelling wisdom and good advice as misinformation, dealt with by censor and state action as observed during the Covid episode. Public action must also tackle this menace.
The doctors and frontline health/ disaster task force experts and workers should join in as they will be the first in the line to be “saved by the preventive measures” waiting to emerge.
The means to achieve the goal to have zero casualty in the health sector and reach the last man standing should emerge from the hearts of people and not from the brains of modern day philanthropists.
The power of good is far greater than the deceptive finesse and expertise of evil.
Jagannath Chatterjee is a Health & Human Rights Activist from India. This article was originally published on The Current Health Scenario.