The Medical Mafia: Explained

Ever wondered why medical expenses are so expensive? The medicines, the laboratory tests, consultation fees, etc., compiling them will definitely put a hole in our pockets. Through this blog, let us explore the medical mafia.
Introduction
One fine day, I happened to meet my ex-colleague, who is now working in the pharma industry. And the curious me started asking weird questions about how the pharma industry makes money and becomes so profitable. Apart from answering my question, he also told me about the "Medical Mafia" no one knows of. So, I felt why not explain those atrocities to my beloved readers :) Let's get started.
India is growing faster than ever before, indicating that many industries are growing. But the pharmaceutical and education industry is growing way faster than the other industries. It seems like there is no chance for the fall of these industries, as healthcare and education are considered the most vital sources of human existence in the current scenario.
Taking this into consideration, some people involved in these sectors are taking advantage of the situation and milking money out of people's pockets. No matter how the government tries to get rid of the cruel intentions of these people, they are still figuring a way out to earn huge profits out of the people's agitation.
In this blog, let us only discuss medical atrocities and how they impact our fellow countrymen's lives. And this is only just the tip of the iceberg, as there is more to it.
Medicine
Firstly let us talk about the types of medicines (Allopathy). There are 2 types, namely, 1)Generic Medicines and 2)Branded Medicines.
Let's admit the fact that the medicines are released into the market after investing a lot of R&D to develop a medicine for a particular disease. Such medicines are provided with patents. Patents help set up their own prices and do not let other companies copy their composition. Therefore, medicines initially begin their journey as branded medicine.
Once the patent expires, the prices drastically fall as other companies can start manufacturing using a similar composition, developing competition in the market. As competition is around and the prices reduce, it benefits the customer. Henceforth, it is now considered a generic medicine.
With that being noted, let us understand how pharmaceutical companies bring a twist to the tale. As the patents of Branded medicine expire, the companies would not generate huge revenues like they did before. Due to this reason, they tend to bring slight changes to the composition and label them as branded medicine again so that they can still maintain the revenues. Now, you know why these pharma companies are so profitable and rich.
Prescription
Have you ever observed why you could only find the prescribed medicines only at the hospital's pharmacy store but not at some other pharmacies? Well, there is a hidden truth behind that; let's uncover it!
We must admit that the patients consider their doctors as someone next to God. So, patients usually go with the prescription provided by the doctor, which is not at all wrong. But here enters the main character of the plot, who is none other than the sales guy of the pharma company. The sales guy sets up a deal with the doctor, asking the doctor to prescribe his company's medicine rather than the regular medicine for a commission.
If the doctor recommends paracetamol (Generic Medicine) to treat fever, he won't get any commission which is why even the doctor nods for the deal with the sales guy by recommending his medicine (Branded Medicine) for fever. Once the deal is accepted, the sales guy provides the stock to the hospital's pharmacy. It is a win-win situation for doctors and pharma companies.
Conclusion
Through this blog, I wanted you to be aware of the "mafia" that is happening around the medical industry. And I also wanted to clarify that these are just the tip of the iceberg; only god knows about the entire conspiracy. I am not sure about all the doctors, but I have had almost a similar kind of experience with all the doctors I have consulted so far. All I can ask you for is to be aware and prefer generic medicines over branded (Most of the time)
Article by Krishna Teja Reddy and Picture Sourced from Unsplash
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