Ethics in Healthcare

Ethics, or the branch of philosophy that deals with morality, discusses and defines human action
in terms of right and wrong. What is of great interest is the fact that only human action
presents this peculiar dilemma and is subject to this dualism. A tiger killing a deer or a dog
having more than one mating partners cannot be judged as indulging in immoral or unethical
behaviour. But man, in spite of emerging and evolving from a state of animality is held to task
for killing or committing adultery. Of course a soldier kills for his country and an Indian Muslim
has special privileges as far as marriage is concerned. But the question is how do we
distinguish a terrorist from a soldier or why is it that we have different laws for people from
different religions in a secular country! The issues offer themselves for a discourse of greater
length, which in the present context is ill affordable. However, what is of importance is the fact
that the dilemma of the right or wrong is after all a question of human interests. Depending on
the balance of power, the right or wrong is a question of interests being served, to one, a few, or a
larger number of people.
Accepting the assumption that a greater majority of people in India take recourse to the private
sector for curative services, the interests of patients and those responsible for their treatment,
definitely hangs in an unfair balance. Ignorance coupled with poor health habits (prevalent in
both urban and rural population), prepare a good breeding ground for a great many diseases. In
an economy that favours the free market forces, physicians and businessmen coalesce and
function as free agents selling their services to patient-consumers. Taking advantage of the
predicament, they often gain leverage by inducing fear with the aim of extracting as much
economic benefit as possible. Such ambitions, at the least lead to unequal and unfair distribution
of healthcare resources, and at worst disasters like the one at AMRI (Kolkata). With a significant
section of the population incapable of accessing health-insurance, and ineligible for free public
healthcare services as they earn just enough to disqualify themselves from such facilities, the
question that becomes obvious is whether the healthcare system in our country is ethical and
just? The answer is equally obvious and tilts towards an emphatic no!
The ignorance and poor health habits on one hand and unfair business practices on the other
present an ideal condition for the cause of greater health awareness. The concept of preventive
healthcare is one such alternative avenue which can awaken that awareness and create a scope
for the enforcement of pre-emptive measures. Keeping in mind the fact that dearth of quality
healthcare resources and its proper allocation is one of the biggest challenges that India faces
today, a greater consciousness of ones health and action based on that knowledge definitely goes
a long way in serving the interests of a greater number of people.