Dear Friends,

We set up this online Medical Forum to help and support each other to practice ethical medicine. This also meant that we should be helping poorer patients in whatever way we can. Although I am not actively practicing now, when in Chennai I tend to see patients now and again purely on a charitable basis and do not charge a fee. Being an orthopaedic surgeon I often need an x-ray before suggesting treatment. For the poorer patients I used to give them money for the x-ray. Until last year x-ray of a knee used to cost Rs 200 to 300. Imagine my shock when the patient came back today and told me that that the lab want Rs 600 for a simple x-ray (two views) of his knee.

Friends, any suggestion as to how we can help poorer patients without becoming poor ourselves!

Badri.