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Healthcare | 15
The Global Healthcare
Lottery – how lucky are you?
Variety, they say, is the spice of life. But when it
comes to healthcare systems – variety isn’t
always a positive. Dr Sneh Khemka looks at
why healthcare standards vary so much
around the world
Introduction
Those of us who have a certain level of instead it may
income or who come from the developed mean
nations are bestowed a great privilege – we unnecessary
have access to the best doctors in the best over
hospitals in the world. We are more or less intervention,
guaranteed high quality treatments when we especially if
need them. practitioners
But my experience of medicine and hospitals are
around the world is enough to tell a tale of incentivised
huge privilege and huge disadvantage, of wildly on pay-for-
varying standards of care, and of the difference performance
between healing and harming. models. And if
The development and industrialisation of a the quest for quality
nation usually heralds the basic improvements is not at the core of a
in public health that can change the entire healthcare system, no
health of the nation – sanitisation, amount of cash can make for safe
immunisations, safer childbirth and universal and efficient practice.
access to healthcare. But even in the most So, if you are interested in why healthcare span preventive, primary and specialist care.
developed of nations, for those with access to standards vary so widely, read on for some of Most developed nations spend at least 10% of
the greatest resources, the standard of care can my observations. their gross domestic product on healthcare, and
vary greatly dependent not only on where you this is rising every year. In the US the figure is
are in the world, but which hospital or doctor How important is health to a now reckoned to be closer to 20%. And with a
you choose to visit. country? few exceptions, the more money there is, the
Over the last three years, I have been Individual countries have wide variations as to better the healthcare system.
inspecting hospitals around the world, and how much of their national resource they are A study published in The Lancet last year
have come across some interesting surprises. willing to invest in healthcare. Healthcare is a highlights this. The researchers compared
Money does not necessarily mean quality; huge industry, requiring vast sums of money to cancer survival rates across five continents.
www.investmentinternational.com July/August 2009 Investment International
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