Posted 3/4/2012 5:19 PM (GMT 0)
I've lived and had medical care in India, Canada, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US (where one of my children was born) and I have to say I have planted my family back in Canada because despite some annoyances, the system here is by far the best in terms of access, affordability and quality. I do believe that is because there is no two tier system here (as there is in Italy, the UK etc). And yes, you can get great medical care in India and many "medical tourists" do but again it's a private system and I have had personal experiences of a Dr (American practicing in India btw, what does that say?) pushing needless invasive procedures and doing serious harm to crank up the bill. In italy you have absurd waiting lists which can be bypassed by going private. In the UK, it's the same and the NHS is basically a lottery (if you're lucky, great care, if not, a hopeless shambles). I don't think that I would have complete trust in the intentions of my drs in any private system. Recently I became quite concerned when I realized my daughter's GI was a paid consultant for centocaur (remicade). I found out before we had the remicade talk and I was very nervous, assuming she was going to shove it down our throat. In reality, it was the exact opposite. She seems as scared of it as we are (which makes me very nervous about it if the day ever comes that we need it) but I was surprised. I guess she can be honest as she as nothing to gain or lose from using remicade. I would always be second guessing my doc in a private system even if they were being completely honest, there's just too much money at stake.