“Health Is Wealth—But Whose Wealth?”

Healthcare: When Service Becomes Business, Where Does Humanity Stand?

"Honouring the world as one family demands a shared and sacred covenant. The Government must lower the barriers to healthcare and provide appropriate incentives to foster a culture in which health is nurtured as wealth. Healthcare institutions, in turn, can extend the spirit of Corporate Social Responsibility beyond treatment to prevention—promoting Yoga, spiritual well-being, healthy living and awareness of the value of good health. Such a holistic approach can make healthcare not merely a service, but a national mission and a shared responsibility—with the well-being of every individual contributing to the well-being of society and, ultimately, to the larger vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam."

The core challenge in modern healthcare is balancing financial sustainability with patient dignity, ensuring that commercial practices do not overshadow the fundamental mission of preserving life and reducing suffering.Achieving this balance requires transitioning toward a healthcare ecosystem that is scientifically advanced, technologically enabled, and above all, humane.

Hospitals, insurance companies pharmaceutical companies , distributors of medicines both retail and whole sale  and third-party agencies are all important parts of the healthcare system. Yet, from the patient's perspective, there are occasions when concerns arise about transparency, accountability, claims settlement and the quality of service. The stated Vision and Mission of institutions do not always appear to be fully reflected in the patient's experience.

Healthcare is an area where empathy, compassion and genuine concern for the patient deserve particular importance. Technology, including Artificial Intelligence, can greatly improve efficiency and transparency, but it should ultimately serve the patient rather than become another barrier. It may therefore be worthwhile to consider independent social audits in the health sector, alongside existing financial, statutory and technical audits. Such audits could focus specifically on the patient's experience and the quality of service delivery. The pursuit of financial sustainability and reasonable returns is legitimate and necessary. But these objectives should support, rather than overshadow, the larger purpose of healthcare—preserving life, reducing suffering and enhancing human dignity.

Affordability and Human Considerations

This principle becomes especially important in relation to life-saving medicines and critical treatments. Essential medicines cannot be viewed entirely through the lens of ordinary market economics. Affordability, accessibility and social responsibility need to accompany innovation, manufacturing efficiency and reasonable returns. From the initial diagnosis to final recovery, a patient passes through stages that are physically, emotionally, and financially painful. Herein lies the need for compassion, advanced technology, diverse treatment approaches, and a balance between commercial viability and patient affordability. The healthy survival of both the service provider and the patient remain equally important, justifying prudence, reason, and transparency as fair means to an end.

The recent public discussion concerning the substantial difference between the procurement price and the MRP of certain life-saving medicines has again drawn attention to this issue. On 29 September 2026, the Supreme Court questioned a reported tenfold difference between the price to retailer and MRP of an essential cancer medicine—₹2,700 versus ₹27,000—and asked the Centre to examine whether a uniform margin should apply to medicines. The Court also raised questions concerning practices requiring patients to purchase medicines from hospital-linked pharmacies.

The fundamental question is not whether hospitals and insurance companies should remain financially viable. They must. The question is whether commercial practices can always be reconciled with the dignity, vulnerability and welfare of patients. A cancer patient is not an ordinary consumer. A seriously ill person and the family accompanying them may already be emotionally exhausted, financially stretched and dependent upon professional institutions. In such circumstances, transparency, empathy, fairness and accountability become especially important.

Healthcare Communication and Patient Choice

Healthcare-related communication and patient engagement should also be guided by ethics and sensitivity. Information and awareness are necessary, but medical decisions should remain rooted in clinical need and patient welfare. This is particularly relevant to promotional offers connected with medicines and treatment. For example, if a hospital offers a “Buy One, Get One Free” arrangement for a chemotherapy injection, several reasonable questions arise: Was the second injection medically necessary?Was the patient given a genuine choice?Was the price of the first injection transparent?Could the offer influence a medical decision or encourage purchase beyond immediate clinical requirements?Is this arrangement to be informed to the patients to worsen  their depressed  mindset further?  The issue is therefore not merely whether the second injection is financially “free”. The larger question is whether commercial Consideration / communication is influencing a decision that should primarily be guided by medical necessity and patient welfare. 

Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Hospitals and insurers now have access to AI, electronic medical records, data analytics and sophisticated information systems. These technologies offer considerable opportunities to improve healthcare delivery.AI could potentially assist in:identifying duplicated or unnecessary investigations; comparing treatment and medicine prices; detecting unusual billing patterns; explaining insurance exclusions in simple language; identifying genuine hardship cases requiring human review; reducing repetitive documentation ;flagging delays in claim settlement; and creating an independent patient-oriented audit trail.

But AI should support human judgment, not replace human sensitivity. The ideal healthcare system would combine advanced technology with human compassion. Efficiency and financial discipline are important, but the patient should remain at the centre of the system.

The Idea of an Independent Healthcare Social Audit

Healthcare institutions already have several forms of audit—financial audit, statutory compliance, accreditation, internal audit, insurance audit, medical audit and regulatory supervision.Yet these mechanisms may not always answer the ordinary patient's central question: “Was I treated fairly, transparently and with dignity?” An Independent Healthcare Social Audit could therefore examine the patient's experience from a different perspective.It could examine the entire journey: Patient → Treatment → Billing → Insurance → Claims → Discharge → Grievance Redressal

Among the matters that could be assessed are: Transparency of charges. Difference between procurement cost and patient billing  Any requirement to purchase medicines or devices from designated sources. Frequency and reasons for insurance claim rejection Time taken for claim settlement Treatment of genuine hardship cases.Availability and effectiveness of grievance mechanisms,Patient and attendant experience.Waiting time and administrative delays.The Loss of Man Hrs is something very huge.Whether the institution's stated Mission and Values are reflected in actual service delivery.

Such an audit could be independent of the hospital, insurer and third-party administrator, with broad findings made publicly available. This would introduce an important additional dimension of accountability—accountability from the patient's point of view.

Where Does Humanity Stand?

Perhaps the deeper question is not whether healthcare should involve business. Financial sustainability is essential for any institution to survive and serve society. The real question is: Should commercial considerations support healthcare, or should healthcare increasingly be shaped by commercial considerations? That distinction matters.

India has a long tradition of regarding health as an essential component of human welfare. Whether viewed through religious, philosophical or secular humanist principles, compassion towards a suffering human being remains a universal value . A hospital may have advanced technology, impressive infrastructure and a strong balance sheet. Yet its real success should ultimately be reflected in how it treats a vulnerable human being seeking relief, comfort and hope. The pursuit of reasonable profit is legitimate. The pursuit of human welfare is indispensable.

As India moves towards Viksit Bharat 2047, development should not be measured only by larger institutions, greater technology and stronger financial performance. Institutions should also become more humane, accountable and responsive to the welfare aspirations of people. In fact, when institutional strength is combined with compassion, accountability and a genuine concern for people, healthcare can become a powerful instrument of public welfare—and an important foundation for Viksit Bharat 2047.

A truly developed healthcare system would therefore be: Scientifically advanced.Technologically enabled, Financially sustainable, Transparent and accountable. And, above all, humane.Perhaps that is the balance we should strive for—a healthcare system where technology strengthens service, financial sustainability supports continuity, and compassion remains at the heart of care.  Healthy and wealthy institutions can definitely be humane and easily pave the way for welfare and Viksit Bharat 2047. 

May health prevail everywhere, and may awareness of being healthy be nurtured and encouraged as a shared responsibility. Let the pursuit of health become a positive force towards realising the ideal of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and making the vision of a healthy, prosperous and inclusive Viksit Bharat a reality.

Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu

T V G Krishnan
(Personal Views This write up is vetted  with the help of  AI)