[ntomer]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Ditto my example. I am currently down with the flu (don't know which one!). Went to the civil hospital to rule out swine flu. I passed all filters, except that I was not having cough - so they said, take these 3-4 tabs and go home.

One of the tabs was Augmentin! The original brand itself costed 240 bucks for six. I bought Moxikind which is selling for 15 bucks apiece. Ditto chemical.

I suspect that is the reason for your four digit bill more than anything else. A relative of mine loves to prescribe the Allegra, when its generic equivalent costs much lesser. This is when he gets zero financial gain - he has his reasons! Doctors are doctors. Go on faith man.

If I am not wrong Moxikind is marketed by Mankind Pharma. This is a Meerut based company, and their product are usually priced at less than half of competitors.

I know this company pretty well; their QC is very weak and there has been many instances of severe side-effects. This is the reason they are almost non-existent in metros and big-cities; almost 80% of their business comes from small towns and micro-interiors.

I can get all their medicines for free, but I prefer to go for the more renowned and more expensive alternative.

Nitin

[greenhorn]

Interestingly, The discussion seems to have arrived at the same drug I thought I got ripped off with.
The drug in question was "Zyloprim 625" from apotex which is essentially the same thing phamilyman and DocG are talking about. I'm curious why there is such a huge difference in the prices between various brands of this drug. Is this because the cheaper versions are less potent/have less than the advertised dose? But Archat68 says this is not likely.

What we are dealing with is specific doses of specific chemicals. If its not the purity/quality, then what else is the difference?

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

It is this very behavior which makes people lose trust in doctors. I have seen many doctors and hospitals overcharge when they know that you are reimbursing it or you have medical insurance. Their attitude is that since its not coming from your pocket, why do you bother.

Quite true! My wife's maternity expenses were borne by the medical insurance provided by her company. On knowing that this was going to be a direct transaction between the hospital and the insurance provider, they hiked the charges to make their share of the profit. All my efforts to obtain a copy of the bill was in vain. I was always given silly excuses such as the bill is "still" being generated and so on.

[Spitfire]

My close friends wife who delivered in Manipal Hospital Bangalore ran a bill of 1.5 lakhs last month. And it was a normal delivery. Talk about being ripped. The profession is slowly sleeping away to being ignoble.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Samurai

It is a worldwide phenomena, not restricted to doctors. People who do cash business never declare their real income and never pay the taxes due. I am a salaried person, so I pay my taxes fully.

That may be so, but why should he charge 50% more simply because a person has medical reimbursement from his employer? My reimbursement amount is finite, after all!

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

A relative of mine loves to prescribe the Allegra, when its generic equivalent costs much lesser. This is when he gets zero financial gain - he has his reasons! Doctors are doctors. Go on faith man.

I suspect this is because each pharma company gives doctors 'compliments' or 'gifts' which is essentially bribing them to prescribe their drug. When a company sales team gives you, say, a brand new laptop, you'd feel obliged to prescribe their drug as opposed to their rival's equivalent product.

[Thad E Ginathom]

My wife and I go to an eye specialist/surgeon for eye tests etc. I believe he is quite well known and respected. Last time I consulted him because I had been getting migraine too much, and wanted to check it was not an eye problem. He examined me, including giving drops and dilating the pupil, discussed the migraine, and prescribed for it.

On the way out, I could not believe that the receptionist was only asking for Rs100. In fact, being somewhat hard of hearing, I literally could not believe it! She had to tell my wife, in Tamil, "Your husband is very stupid," ok, not actually said, but that was the expression on her face, "...yes, we are asking Rs.100 only".

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Gansan

That may be so, but why should he charge 50% more simply because a person has medical reimbursement from his employer? My reimbursement amount is finite, after all!

No sir. His logic would be - my customers should be thankful that their prices are not loaded with tax. He is just adjusting his earnings by the tax he'd have to pay extra on white money!

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

I suspect this is because each pharma company gives doctors 'compliments' or 'gifts' which is essentially bribing them to prescribe their drug. When a company sales team gives you, say, a brand new laptop, you'd feel obliged to prescribe their drug as opposed to their rival's equivalent product.

Not really. He somewhere believes the drugs are better - like our friend tomer ji below (as also DocG)

Originally Posted by ntomer

If I am not wrong Moxikind is marketed by Mankind Pharma. This is a Meerut based company, and their product are usually priced at less than half of competitors.

I know this company pretty well; their QC is very weak and there has been many instances of severe side-effects. This is the reason they are almost non-existent in metros and big-cities; almost 80% of their business comes from small towns and micro-interiors.

I can get all their medicines for free, but I prefer to go for the more renowned and more expensive alternative.

Nitin

Can you substantiate the same?

I'm sure westerners would've looked down on our DRL, Sun, Ranbaxy like that - but in India, I don't trust anyone. So any way we can verify and make sure that either medicines are pure or clearly establish which brands to trust!??

My reason: All medicines are manufactured in SSI units under license. Ultimately those guys will indulge in all sorts of practices - irrespective of the brand name their products are marketed under!

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Can you substantiate the same?

Dear Sir,

I know the owners - Junejas pretty well. And although I can't really substantiate it but it is a fact that no well-known hospital prescribes Mankind medicines.

The core market for Mankind is small towns, and micro-interiors. And they'll give doctors anything - from tooth-brushes, razors, shirts to ACs, LCD TVs to foreign trips - to prescribe their medicines.

Other companies might not be much different, but the established names have much better QC, and will not go to such extent to get business.

Nitin

[shajufx]

Hey you guys are talking about overpricing for few tablets ? Here I have a king of all crooks, may be few of them ! Go to any 'self-acclaimed' skin & hair specialists (trichologists). There are many branded chains too. Make sure you have few lakhs set apart for an year or two, depending on how serious is your hair requirement.

I went to one 3 months back, consultation lasted only 3 mts, I noticed everyone in the waiting room collecting the same damn set of medicines for Rs.5500 or more. Its called 'HERBAL' medicine to do magic on your scalp. All what I got was few strips of white round tabs (homeo-like pills), 2 tiny tubes of some liquid (could be 5 ml each) and a 50 ml liquid. I had them for the prescribed time, crying loud over the loss of money. Mine was a scalp infection, otherwise I wouldnt have gone to a doctor at all.

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Quite true! My wife's maternity expenses were borne by the medical insurance provided by her company. On knowing that this was going to be a direct transaction between the hospital and the insurance provider, they hiked the charges to make their share of the profit. All my efforts to obtain a copy of the bill was in vain. I was always given silly excuses such as the bill is "still" being generated and so on.

I had a very similar experience in Kailash Hospital, Noida. My mom underwent a cataract operation there; she is insured by Oriental Insurance and the whole procedure was cashless.

This operation was a day activity and she didn't need to be admitted for it. We reached the hospital at 10:00 AM and by 4:00 PM everything was done. The hospital showed me a bill for Rs. 24,000/- and got a signature from me to process the claim; after half an hour they told us that the TPA had approved the claim and we can leave, but they needed another signature from me.

They gave me a stack of papers, with the paper I needed to sign on top. When I tried to see the papers, the person almost panicked and told me that all the bills are same and no need to recheck. This made me suspicious and I checked the bills thoroughly; and found that the bill had been inflated to 44K and the TPA too had approved the amount. They charged us for a delux suite, while my mom never left the pre-OT ward.

And what did they tell me - since I am not paying anything, why should I be concerned about it. I made a big scene at their reception, calling them cheat and what not. I made them correct the bill and signed only on the corrected amount. I also mailed a complaint to Oriental Insurance but never heard from them.

This incident made me realize that there is a nexus between hospital, TPA and insurance company personnel, which is bleeding the insurer dry.

Nitin

[greenhorn]

heh, my manager was telling me recently, his dad had some operation, cost 3.5L. the medical insurance covered only 50K, so he had to shell out 3L. Only later he found out that the insurer got a 10% discount, which was not passed onto him, so the insurer effectively paid only about 15K.

Medical Insurance ripping people off is a global phenomenon, I think even in the US

[ntomer]

This maybe true in case of private insurers. In case of PSUs, it's the insurers which are being ripped.

Nitin

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I'm sure westerners would've looked down on our DRL, Sun, Ranbaxy like that - but in India, I don't trust anyone. So any way we can verify and make sure that either medicines are pure or clearly establish which brands to trust!??

My reason: All medicines are manufactured in SSI units under license. Ultimately those guys will indulge in all sorts of practices - irrespective of the brand name their products are marketed under!

Sun Ranbaxy et el are good companies.

Cheap medicines are made by small units and distributed in small towns or are sold to Govt.
For gov purchase every state has a centralized procedures/ department where manufacturers bid for supply contracts. All sorts of manipulations happen there.

One of my friends used to work at such a company in Indore. I saw machines that were mixing things for tablet. It had not cover and we were standing near it without any cap and wearing normal shoes. They used to sell those to MP govt.

Later, got a chance to see Ranbaxy factory that was nearby (Dewas). That was completly different experiance.

I hope these companies have similar controls when manufacturing is outsourced to smaller units.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by ntomer

The core market for Mankind is small towns, and micro-interiors. And they'll give doctors anything - from tooth-brushes, razors, shirts to ACs, LCD TVs to foreign trips - to prescribe their medicines.

This is very serious, if true. And it is available in metros too. My son was prescribed Moxikind tablets by the paed very recently. The infection did not go down as expected, and he then had to take a course of Mahaceff injections.

I will avoid this company's medications henceforth.