Healing for Sale

Punjab's Medical Marketplace

- Pushpinder Singh Gill

In a land that once believed healing was an act of seva, the new religion seems to be billing.

The citizens of Punjab now stand outside hospitals unsure whether they are patients or customers. In a culture that once offered water to strangers and prayers for the sick, health has become a receipt printed between fear and hope. From the glittering facades of corporate hospitals to the crumbling walls of government clinics, one question throbs like a wound: when did healing become a market?

Walk through any town or village and the paradox is glaring. On paper, Punjab's healthcare landscape looks promising - the spread of Aam Aadmi Clinics, free diagnostics, telemedicine through eSanjeevani, and the announcement of the Mukh Mantri Sehat Bima Yojana, a scheme meant to bring cashless treatment to the poor. Yet, in reality, the scheme remains unimplemented, and Punjab's earlier health plans - like the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana and the Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana - lost steam to delays, corruption, and confusion. Health cards were distributed, claims were filed, promises were made. But hospitals complained of unpaid dues, patients found themselves caught between paperwork and illness, and the poor returned to private quacks who asked for cash and offered faith instead of medicine. Can a state that has repeatedly failed to sustain its own health missions be trusted to build a new one with sincerity?