A Window

I have worked in the corporate world for 2 years and 4 months, so it is not a mountain of experience. Prior to that I am a MBA in Marketing and prior to that a Graduate of Science majoring in Biotechnology. Through all these phases though there has been one constant, I have been a son for all my life. When I think about it in retrospect, I owe the freedom of choice that I have had to my parents. With that realisation however comes a burden to shoulder and that is of all the expectations.

I have been in existence for 25 years and from the day that I was born there were dreams attached to my actions and my plans. My mother might have seen a doctor in her arms, or my father might have seen an engineer in the crib. They might have seen a national swimmer in the pool and a scholar at school who would go through education magna cum laude.

Well, I necessarily did not dream of all of those, but thanks to my parents I was never made to follow any of the above either. We all make mistakes and will continue making them, and so will I (I do not plan to stop). Although on reflection, a theme arises. Picture for me if you will a window in a wall, the only opening in a monolithic facade. What you see through that window is your future, your plans, the ideal scenarios etc. a script if you will of what your life should be. The problem with this picture however is the glass on this window, which is filtering that light in. What colour is it? Well it is the colour of expectations, opinions, learning and wisdom. And that filter might be capable of giving a biased view of actually what could be.

We often read through articles about what a place this world has become, and we need to work on it for a greater tomorrow, a brighter future, a world where mankind can survive for eternity and not have to face the consequences for the mistakes we and our ancestors have made. It is easy to agree to the fact that what we do or do not will be for our children. The next generation endures and the previous one fades. It is cyclical and inevitable ... today is the oldest you have been and the youngest you will ever be. So then are we giving them a fair chance to make the world the way they want to be?

Wisdom I agree is something that tells you which mistakes not to make, but isn't it static knowledge with a * for conditions apply (all other things remaining constant). Does it mean that our children should not dare traverse those paths where we have stumbled and make the safer choice always? It is a moral dilemma which I currently am struggling with. Success is relative, and I might be fantastic at work, earn enough for a comfortable retirement, take some risks on my way and fail badly and still be a monumental failure as a son because of certain unfulfilled expectations. So how to make that choice?

Confusion and frustration ensues. I know that parents have a right to be anxious and keeping everyone happy is the toughest part in life. Finding a Balance is my quest and I hope someday that it can be achieved with less heartburn and even lesser tears.

To break that window pane or not? Now that is the question I have to figure out.

The Health of Healthcare

Satyamev Jayate has been the flavour of the past 4 Sundays now and it has been a stellar effort on part of the production team to garner the kind of attention which they have been able to. Whether Star Power of Aamir Khan, or issues which really hit home to a part of your conscience that removes the blinds from your eyes, and make you take notice of realities which are pushed to the back of your mind and are a part of that hazy babble of voices which you chose to ignore is entirely up to you. Ignoring is easy and yes I agree all of us have enough time on our plate and hence I feel that the time slot selected by the program is a stroke of genius.

Aamir today took on Doctors head on and challenged their God complex on national television. It will have a small effect somewhere which I am sure will be life changing for some, but end of the day Doctors are made to go out and earn money in order to break even with their educational expenses. This is a fact and is caused due to the failure of our system due to its inability to provide good quality public education (primary upwards and not just professional courses). So is the blame entirely on the student who has a dream of treating the ill? Not entirely.

Now I am no expert on medicine and the profession of treating (or practicing on) patients, however I am an employee of a reputed pharma company and today I do have a bone to pick with the Satyameva Jayate guys. I think that whenever you are trying to inform people with issues that have an impact on perception towards good or bad, the communication should be equivocal and everyone has to have a chance to explain their side. The show dealt with the issues of Corrupt Doctors brilliantly and it was almost wholistic. However, since the customer was facing the judgement, the seller (pharma companies) were naturally dragged into the arena.

Whether the Medical Rep bribed the Doctor or the Doctor asked for favours form Medical Reps? Answering that is like finding a solution to the Hen and Egg conundrum, so no use wasting time on that. The problem I had was the take on Generic Drugs and the Pricing of medicines.

Here it was a propaganda saying generics are a better and cheaper option and branded drugs are evil and force individuals to bankruptcy. Cost of making all Drugs is very low and pricing them high is unfair. BIG FAUX PAS.

The Show needed to speak about the following things too:

Branded drugs are sold by companies who discover them. A medicine hitting the shelf has to have passed form the most stringent of testing norms and safety procedures in order to be declared safe for consumption. The process from discovering a molecule to actually administering it to a patient is an extremely arduous, lengthy and expensive process. For every medicine hitting the market, more than a hundred molecules are rejected, but the entire process has to be carried out for those rejects too, and this cost has to be accounted for and recovered from that successful molecule. Now the company who brings this molecule to the market, is a pioneer, naturally will launch it as a Brand and earn a premium. Rightfully so as it did all the effort and at the end of the day its a business for GODS SAKE. Generic companies are freeloaders essentially (not entirely in a negative sort of way) who are masters at manufacturing. Their cost of getting the drug to the market hence is much lower, and they can sell it cheaper. But if the molecule wasn't discovered in the first place, Generics would not exist.

Secondly, India is a cheap manufacturing hub so naturally production costs are low, but we fail to notice that the top MNCs put in more in R&D than they do actually in Marketing and Sales as they are constantly trying to come up with solutions for the human (medical) condition. Generics don't put much effort in such causes. This fact cannot be entirely overlooked.

The golden mean to the problem - life saving drugs should be given generic licenses immediately so that they save the maximum lives possible, affordability should not be a question one has to face in a life and death situation.

Also there are so many Pharma companies that actually team up with Rural Hospitals and Healthcare programmes that make it possible for many villages to get excellent quality medications for very cheap prices, utilising the excellent distribution systems of these hospitals and programmes. I work for Novartis and we have such an initiative called Arogya Parivar that which does the exact same thing. Johnson & Johnson, Cipla, GSK all have these in some form or the other.

I am not trying to win brownie points for Pharma, neither am I saying that everything is fair in the Healthcare profession, but I thought that Satyamev Jayate should have allowed these aspects to be explained to the people. I am sure it would have helped in a better understanding of the scenario.

RIGHT PERCEPTIONS ARE FORMED ONLY WHEN INFORMATION GIVEN IS EQUIVCAL, and for me, today's episode just failed to provide that. PUBLIC OPINION IS DANGEROUS WHEN ILL-INFORMED.