Doctors are angry! Why? Aamir Khan has targeted them in two of his first four shows! And why not? After all, the show is called Satyamev Jayate! In a country where 17% of the population dies before the age of 40 and an increased healthcare focus should have been an imperative, the reality is that medicines for treatment of cancer patients — in one of the cases, 5.5 lakh Morphine and 52 lakh Morcontin tablets sent by the World Health Organization — that were supposed to be distributed free at all the hospitals in India, were dumped in the stores of hospitals beyond their expiry dates. What is important for the masses to know is that the medical mafia keeps doing such acts to enhance the profits of pharmaceutical establishments.

There are exceptions too —like the Shramjibi Hospital in Belur, West Bengal, which charges just Rs 25,000 for a coronary bypass, unlike the Rs 3 lakh others might charge. Yet, on the other hand, services rendered by many private doctors and by private/public hospitals are of such miserable standards that I get the impression that these places are infested with ‘merchants of death’.