Health is the most important asset you have, and you don’t often respect it until it’s lost. One of my biggest gripes with the health industry today is watching many of my friends get prescribed drugs for a breakup with a girlfriend or a job loss.
The current model is broken: doctors are applauded if they see over 80 patients a day. The so-called superstars are seeing over 100. But who is applauding them? Not patients. It’s primary healthcare conglomerates like Sonic Healthcare and other large entities that are reaping the rewards. They are not improving the health system; they are generating tens of thousands of dollars in referrals to pathology and other services.
Here’s a prime example: several of my friends have gone through a breakup and sought medical help. In the two minutes they get with a doctor, who is just racing through consults to see the next patient, they get prescribed a drug. Often, it’s a sleep drug, just to knock them out. Then, they suffer side effects like constipation or a sore tummy. Back to the doctor they go, and more drugs are prescribed. This cycle continues, and before long, some end up on six or seven different drugs within months of what are supposed to be professional medical consultations.
The reality is, at that first appointment, my friends should have been told to exercise daily, eat well, and come back if they are still struggling after seven days. Common sense is ignored. Instead, you have to step in, clean them off the drugs, and do what should have been done from the start.
The medical system in this country is broken. It’s a rort for large healthcare conglomerates. Just visit a dentist or any doctor and see how quickly they refer you to their other services, often unnecessarily. They don’t even ask real questions. The model is: two to three minutes per patient, flick them out, and if they return, give them a pill. This pill-popping culture leaves half the patients as zombies, and we wonder why productivity is declining in this country. The medical profession bears a significant portion of the blame for this chaos. Thank you.