Cost effective medical education can bring down healthcare costs

Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICSR) Director Dr. C.N. Manjunath said, "The only way to make healthcare affordable is by ensuring that medical education becomes cost-effective."

Dr. Manjunath, who was addressing at the inaugural of a 2-day workshop named 'Affordable Healthcare and Access to Clean Water' at the Indian Institute of Management, said, "Because of expensive medical education, doctors are constantly thinking about how much they have spent clinical service affordable, medical education has to become affordable."

He feels that, through affordable medical education, around 25%-30% of doctors will follow an evidence-based medical approach.

He said, "We need to strengthen the basics of medicine. Doctors seem to be taking pride in conducting investigations, most of which may be unnecessary. It is wrong to make patients undergo so many tests. In more than 50% of the cases, lending a good ear to patients will give us the diagnosis."

He also suggested, "The basic cost of treatment will be decided by the managements in private hospitals, which are mostly looking only at a revenue model. They need to adopt a volume-cum-revenue model instead."

On referring to how SJICSR did around 80 Angiogram procedures every day, he said, "With such volume, I can easily perform at least 7-8 free of cost."

However, he urged the government to reduce duties on costly medical equipment and said, "There is a need to cut red tape. Also, a corporate culture should come in the public sector. Otherwise, patients will be forced to go to the private hospitals."

"With 70% of clinical services today being provided by the private sector, there is a need for better synchronisation between public and private institutions, " he added.