A reality check

I am a practicing pediatrician in a tier 2 city. This post is to shed light on the reality of healthcare ‘market’. I completed DCH then secondary DNB and have been in the market for 1 year now. I got a case from a nearby hospital of a 3 year old male child with ARDS with MODS. He underwent a stormy course of 12 days PICU stay with mechanical ventilation for 5 days. Overall I was paid ₹1000 per visit. On the final bill of the patient (1.8 lakh) they were charged ₹2500 per visit as doctors fees. Upon enquiry I found out that the general practitioner (BHMS) who had referred that patient to the hospital was given 20 percent on bed charges, 50 percent of doctors visit, 30 percent on blood investigations and 40 percent on radiological investigations. Which means GP got around 60k, Hospital got around 1.1 lakh and I who treated the patient, counselled, took all the risk and eventually saved the child got 12k. And the attender never came for followup because he thought I looted him and went to followup to the same GP. Therefore, do not take neet pg too seriously, eventually the market is run by hospital owners, big pharmaceutical companies and general practitioners (BHMS, BAMS). Your place in this organization is too small. Do not treat specialization as if your life depends on it.