Forget Health, Just Think of Illness and Treatment

Health News: India — the land of sages, Ayurveda, Patanjali, and Dhanvantari. The cradle of health and healing. It is believed that every form of medical treatment has its roots here. We have identified and shared with the world the secrets of health hidden in nature — in trees, herbs, minerals, soil, water, and even the very breath we take.

Given this ancient legacy, these profound insights, and unmatched medicinal knowledge, we should have evolved into an exceptionally healthy nation — a role model of wellness for the rest of the world. Ideally, the world should be learning from us how to stay healthy. We should be the flagbearers of fitness.

But are we?

Absolutely not.

In reality, the exact opposite is true.

It’s a bitter and frightening truth, but truth nonetheless — this land of sages has become a minefield of diseases. It is now infamously called the diabetes capital of the world. We lead in heart disease, rank high in cancer cases, and are devastated in the realm of mental health. Name any illness, and you’ll find its victims in abundance in every corner of this country.

Visit any hospital in any city — every department has endless queues, every single day. At the clinics of any specialist, you’ll find long lines of patients waiting — often for 8–10 hours. From Ahmedabad to Guwahati, Jammu to Chennai, Lucknow to Kolkata — the situation is the same everywhere.

A vast chunk of our 1.5 billion population is forced to spend the most precious parts of their lives — their time, energy, and hard-earned money — in diagnosis and treatment. Yes, people get sick everywhere in the world, but is the condition this dire elsewhere? One could argue that with such a large population, the number of sick people will also be higher. Fair enough. But do other densely populated countries reflect this same crisis? Check the facts — you won’t find a comparable situation anywhere. Pakistan and Bangladesh might be exceptions, but not the rest of the world.

The entire focus in India is on treatment, not prevention. The whole aim is to somehow identify and cure the disease. What’s astonishing is how much time, energy, and money people spend just trying to figure out what is wrong with them.

Shouldn’t our focus instead be on staying healthy? Shouldn’t our priority be to prevent illness altogether, or at least delay its onset?

Isn’t it shameful that we now need a cancer hospital or an AIIMS in every district? Have we become so sick as a nation that every street corner needs a clinic?

The real problem is this — there is no charm in being healthy. Not for doctors, not for the government, and sadly, not for us ordinary humans either. Why would the trillion-dollar industry of medicine, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and treatments want people to stay healthy? If people stopped falling ill, it would be a financial disaster for them. Even the government is, in many ways, a part of this same medical-industrial complex.

Building hospitals, investing in the healthcare sector — all of this boosts revenue, creates jobs, and sustains an economy. But trying to prevent illness? That’s an uphill task. You’d need to expand green spaces, eliminate pollution, end food adulteration, ban chemical fertilizers and pesticides, build parks in every neighborhood, and develop sports infrastructure across the country. You’d have to mentally and emotionally satisfy citizens, reduce the daily stress of survival, provide mental peace, and free people from worry.

We are not a sporting nation. There are no incentives for cycling. The fate of cycling paths in Uttar Pradesh is well known. The to-do list for real public health is long, difficult, and thankless.

So instead, we look for the easier way — open hospitals everywhere, establish clinics in every lane, and hand out cancer hospitals like “gifts” to the people.

And the people? They continue to consume adulterated food, inhale dust and pollution, live under constant stress, eat pesticide-laced produce, chew gutkha, drink alcohol, smoke, and obsess over Israel-Iran, Trump, Pakistan, terrorism, caste equations, and Hindu-Muslim debates. They spend their days watching Reels and YouTube Shorts — and forget about everything else.

Don’t worry — fall ill, and treatment will be available.

Just be prepared to run from hospital to hospital and sell your land to pay for it.

The country will soon begin its population census. Wouldn’t it be better if, along with that, we assessed the nation’s health too?

How many people are suffering from which diseases?

How much time does the average Indian spend in hospitals or at clinics?

How much is the per capita spending on treatment?

How many patients does one doctor handle on average every day?

Let people know the real state of the nation’s health.

Look around your own home. See how much is being spent on tests, diagnoses, doctors, and medicines — but what is being done to stay healthy? And even if something is being done, it’s confined within the four walls of your house — because nothing outside is health-friendly, and you have no control over anything.

This is the bitter truth and tragic reality of the land of Patanjali, Dhanvantari, and Ayurveda.

It’s not just a failure — it’s a collective sin.

We’ve left our future generations a legacy of hospitals, clinics, and disease.

Is there still time to change?

Is there any cure for the epidemic of falling ill?

Think about it. Reflect deeply.

(The author is a journalist.)