The fire that killed 90 patients in the AMRI Hospitals in Kolkata early last month, also raises questions about the ratings assigned to best hospitals, hotels and colleges by leading magazines. Two leading English weekly magazines The Week and India Today had featured AMRI Hospital among the “Most Caring Hospitals” ranking early last year. It appears that such ratings and rankings could just be bought and it is an all win-win arrangements between the media and the business institutions looking for lucrative business.
It seems these ratings are yet another kind of what has come to be known as ‘paid news’ as these magazines have barely any wherewithal to measure the treatment, upkeep, maintenance, efficiency, costing and delivery of services the institutions are known for. Few of these ratings take into account the best medical practices, use of rational drugs, prudence in matters of diagnostics or even eco-related aspects such as biomedical waste etc. Most of these ratings are motivated by advertisements and overlook a whole world of yardsticks from which these hospitality institutions should be judged. For instance, how could a hospital that does not have fire exits, disaster management plan, alternative staircase, fully operational fire hoses, and stores combustible material in the basement, get into the ‘Best caring Hospitals’.
In pursuit of our capitalist dream in the wake of globalization, we Indians are clearly on an overdrive. While ‘looking good’ syndrome is making the people opt for flashy lifestyle, the hospitals, schools and hotels are vying with each other to buy the media favour.
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January 2012 |
