Health, Un-heath and Fear of Un-health

One of my friends and well-wishers of www.pentasect.com, Dr. T Rama Prasad has written an article – one of the boldest ones I have read coming from a doctor on a medico-social phenonmenon . Read below.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article2801701.ece

Few thoughts this article triggered and here are they:

1. Health is something which none can give you : all medical science can do is to ‘remove’ the symptoms that arise due to un-health. Hence, there will always remain a very fine, subtle distinction between someone who treats and someone who heals.
2. The art of healing is not crafsmanship, nor knowledge, nor technical aspects alone. Our body (for that matter, body of any living entity) is so exceedingly complex and designed by an intelligence so much higher order than us that no amount of gadget, diagnosis, instrutment, check can do anything when a higher authority commands the ‘body-machine’ to falter or to stop functioning altogether [ death]. If you disagree : Please note that the CEO of Apple Corporation and a real and insignificant bug in an apple orchard – both had to die.
3. Coming to health check-up business. Suppose you are owner of a Pharma-Medico-Health-Fitness-Well Being (they all deal with body and mind) company and you need to increase sales/profit. Let us call this as Jambalayam Corporation. Now, Jambalayam CEO reasons like this:

It appears that the best way to have continuous sales and higher profit is to make repeat sales and discover new and new customers for repeat sales. One way is very simple :

1. Let us take certain parameter of our body (there are enough choices). Let us call this parameter Faltufuss. Now we check the regulatory bodies manual and they say its value should be within 100 – 120. Now, we commission a survey, do a PR and all kinds of ‘awareness campaign’ and now conclude that due to lifestyle, development, hunger for growth (and perhaps wealth to enjoy immortality), this parameter has to be shifted to 90-110. Changes in faltufuss in little amount can cause maladies like brain impiarment in children, congenital insanity, cerebo-spasmo dilation, omega-3 fatty acid congestion and other horrors yet to be known.
2. Jamvhalayam Corporation commissions great doctors and professionals and regulatory bodies not to be considered some mediavel fool says yes. With this decision, Jambhalayam has done wonder: it has made millions even billions technically un-healthy and with little suggestion to doctors and patients: sick.
3. For many, is it better to have an insane baby or to have spent INR 5000 for a faltufuss shot ?

          Dislcaimer: The above is completely imaginary and displays my ignorance about medical science. However, the sad story is that it is true.