Chennai Hospitals are popular world over with people from all over India and the world coming here to get treated in different illnesses. Hospitals however go to any extent to make lucrative deals out of their existing client base (patients)! I have heard stories in these lines but I heard someone very close to me go though a harrowing experience in one of the leading hospitals in Chennai.
The patient was asked to take a scan that was outdated in the first place. Second the patient had already taken a similar scan just a month back. The doctor refused to proceed with the operation if this was not done. I could think of only one possible reason as to why this was advised. Any scanning device would have cost the hospital several thousand rupees and the doctor has to ensure that the hospital gets the ROI quickly. Maybe they are even ranked on this basis. Amazing right!!. This is just the start of the problem. Based on the results of the scan, more tests and procedures could be advised that were totally unnecessary. Luckily we had 2 other family doctors who were able to identify and tell us that this was unnecessary
All I could think was imagine the lakhs of underprivileged people who consider doctors as Gods, They trust them totally and believe that every step the doctor takes is most necessary. Do they have any way of even finding this out? When they are hardly able to afford just one doctor where is the question of asking for a second opinion? I am not saying doctors should do social service. After all it’s a profession for them too. But they can realize that in their case however they are dealing with lives of people and that deserves a little more care.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Stop at this Traffic Signal
Yeah I am talking about the latest Madhur Bhandarkar movie “ Traffic Signal”. Given a choice I suggest you do not venture to the theater to watch this movie!
The movie is set in Mumbai with the traffic signal providing the perfect backdrop for events that unfold! Yeah that’s just about it. You expect anything more than that you would be disappointed. Myriad of characters with sad family backgrounds that led them to lead a life around the traffic signal. That’s describing the movie in a line. I can’t say more coz nothing else happens. You do not have a strong screenplay to support the movie. Btw you should appreciate Silsila(Kunal Khemu) for his performance! Konkona sen is totally wasted! Ranvir is just so poinless in the movie you wonder why he was even there in first place!The kids are a delight!
For one and half hours till the intermission the characters are just established. Ok you get the point, just move on! Then you expect something more from the movie and it lets you down. In fact the scene where the movie ended is a good place to have the intermission. A movie cannot sustain the interest of the viewers when there is no concrete plot to take it forward. Prostitutes, gigolos, pedophiles, extra marital affairs was shocking to Indian audiences when they saw page 3. Now they expect a little more than that in a movie. The movie would have been worth a watch if you remove half a dozen characters and introduced a plot instead! Reel life imitating real life is ok. We all love it and appreciate it. But we also need something more than that. Traffic Signal just disappoints !!!
The movie is set in Mumbai with the traffic signal providing the perfect backdrop for events that unfold! Yeah that’s just about it. You expect anything more than that you would be disappointed. Myriad of characters with sad family backgrounds that led them to lead a life around the traffic signal. That’s describing the movie in a line. I can’t say more coz nothing else happens. You do not have a strong screenplay to support the movie. Btw you should appreciate Silsila(Kunal Khemu) for his performance! Konkona sen is totally wasted! Ranvir is just so poinless in the movie you wonder why he was even there in first place!The kids are a delight!
For one and half hours till the intermission the characters are just established. Ok you get the point, just move on! Then you expect something more from the movie and it lets you down. In fact the scene where the movie ended is a good place to have the intermission. A movie cannot sustain the interest of the viewers when there is no concrete plot to take it forward. Prostitutes, gigolos, pedophiles, extra marital affairs was shocking to Indian audiences when they saw page 3. Now they expect a little more than that in a movie. The movie would have been worth a watch if you remove half a dozen characters and introduced a plot instead! Reel life imitating real life is ok. We all love it and appreciate it. But we also need something more than that. Traffic Signal just disappoints !!!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Infrastructure Wo(w)es!
Been a while since I blogged. Guess was caught up with too many things (usual excuse!). Btw wish you all a very happy new year. Like every year this year also I am not taking any new year resolution.:-)
I travel for about an hour to work everyday. Our company bus takes the ECR or OMR route in Chennai. For the uninitiated, the OMR is propagated as the IT highway of Chennai! Roughly from Madya Kailash Temple to Siruseri and further beyond! We talk of growth in the IT industry, foreign investments, mergers, acquisition, India (superpower in 2020) and the like. We rant and rave about the IT boom and the subsequent advantages that it offers! But we all also end up discussing the major issue that we face going forward. Infrastructure.
Traveling in these roads everyday just makes me think. We have a good stretch of road till about SRP tools junction(again for non-chennaites this is like a small stretch when you compare the IT Highway). The government has taken care to lay the road, build state of the art medians, lights, bus stops and even have paintings and statues in this stretch. They made a big hue and cry of this inuagration though the completion date was as usual well past the deadline.
You cross this stretch and then reality hits you. We have an excuse of a road/half done construction blocks lying everywhere, mud piled up and as your bus roars past all this , all you get is dust on your face! I am truly trying to understand why does it take so long to build a road? This is not even an initiative from the scratch. This initiative was already started contracts handed out but there is just no road. Sometimes makes me think if democracy is the road block here. Can’t help but compare with China. You see the infrastructure you would be amazed! I visited Hong Kong recently and you need to see the infrastructure to actually believe it! With so many IT companies along the road can’t something be done. These roads also pose more than one safety hazard for the commuters.
I have heard people here compare this with Bangaluru and be contented that we still have not come to that state. But is the solution? Solution to this would involve changing fundamentally the way India operates. Ok, Now I am talking of utopia!!!!
Elected politicians and corporation council members should behave like directors of a publically held company aware that the share holders(in this case the common man) can question them if they do not fulfill their duties! Its well known that immense lobbying happens to get these contracts , that’s the system. But after that the least you can do is implement the contract without squandering any more public wealth! As a tax payer in this country I think I can atleast expect this.
What is the solution? Do any of you have any bright ideas??
I travel for about an hour to work everyday. Our company bus takes the ECR or OMR route in Chennai. For the uninitiated, the OMR is propagated as the IT highway of Chennai! Roughly from Madya Kailash Temple to Siruseri and further beyond! We talk of growth in the IT industry, foreign investments, mergers, acquisition, India (superpower in 2020) and the like. We rant and rave about the IT boom and the subsequent advantages that it offers! But we all also end up discussing the major issue that we face going forward. Infrastructure.
Traveling in these roads everyday just makes me think. We have a good stretch of road till about SRP tools junction(again for non-chennaites this is like a small stretch when you compare the IT Highway). The government has taken care to lay the road, build state of the art medians, lights, bus stops and even have paintings and statues in this stretch. They made a big hue and cry of this inuagration though the completion date was as usual well past the deadline.
You cross this stretch and then reality hits you. We have an excuse of a road/half done construction blocks lying everywhere, mud piled up and as your bus roars past all this , all you get is dust on your face! I am truly trying to understand why does it take so long to build a road? This is not even an initiative from the scratch. This initiative was already started contracts handed out but there is just no road. Sometimes makes me think if democracy is the road block here. Can’t help but compare with China. You see the infrastructure you would be amazed! I visited Hong Kong recently and you need to see the infrastructure to actually believe it! With so many IT companies along the road can’t something be done. These roads also pose more than one safety hazard for the commuters.
I have heard people here compare this with Bangaluru and be contented that we still have not come to that state. But is the solution? Solution to this would involve changing fundamentally the way India operates. Ok, Now I am talking of utopia!!!!
Elected politicians and corporation council members should behave like directors of a publically held company aware that the share holders(in this case the common man) can question them if they do not fulfill their duties! Its well known that immense lobbying happens to get these contracts , that’s the system. But after that the least you can do is implement the contract without squandering any more public wealth! As a tax payer in this country I think I can atleast expect this.
What is the solution? Do any of you have any bright ideas??
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