The May 27 episode of Aamir Khan’s Sunday morning TV talk show, Satyamev Jayate titled, ‘Every Life is Precious’ has once again raked up the issue of black sheep doctors, profiteering pharmaceutical companies and other related malpractices in the healthcare industry in India.
The issues tackled on the show are not new, are prevalent in countries across the globe and deserve to be covered from time to time, as a deterrent and warning to the errant to mend their ways. The power of the visual medium is such that the show will probably have more impact than all of the articles and stories featured in the print medium on the same topic. Add to that Khan’s charisma and you have a potent channel of information and we hope the show continues to throw light on similar grey areas in our society. The show has reportedly restored Sunday morning into prime time, and there’s been tremendous popular support building up with each episode.
But this episode, as will all future ones, also had its detractors. Doctors complain that it was a biased show while pharma companies will probably point to the numerous health check up camps and medicine donation programmes they sponsor. Yes, generic medicines are considerably cheaper but patients themselves tend to equate pricier medicines and treatments with more chances of success.
Was it right to feature a litigant’s story, without the other side from the hospital under litigation? The hospital might have refused to come on the show as the case is subjudice but with only the litigant’s facts, it became a one sided story. How many viewers will check online for the full facts of the case?
In the quest to make it more viewer friendly, garner more TRPs, and striving to fit so much into its time slot, Khan’s show ended up skimming through the finer nuances of these issues. The show has muddied the waters without offering any real solutions.
But then again, are we expecting too much from a matinee TV talk show? Will public memory be too short to recall this particular topic two episodes down the line?
Thus, while Express Healthcare and indeed other like minded media, will continue to throw light on these malpractices, it is ultimately the industry which will have to heal itself. When will the MCI take stern action like withdrawing the licenses of erring doctors? It is indeed ironical that while the programme’s title proclaims that ‘truth alone triumphs’, we have to ask, where and when will we find the complete truth?
Viveka Roychowdhury
Editor
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