One day, a medical representative came to Shekhar’s clinic
and gave him a dozen bottles each, of the three syrups that had been made by
their company for common ailments like fever, cold and cough. He briefed him on
all the positives of those medicines and made him an offer. He said, “Doctor,
we have a tie-up with all the medical stores in this locality. Whenever you
prescribe this medicine to any of your patients, we shall give you a 10%
commission.”
Shekhar said quickly, “No … I don’t need any commission from
you. I only prescribe those medicines, which help my patients to recover
faster…”
“Agreed sir, but we are giving this commission out of our
gratitude. Please accept it…”
Shekhar could not decide at the spur of the moment, whether
it was ethically correct to accept such commission for prescribing a specific
medicine. He decided to think about it later, and did not commit anything to
the medical representative.
After a few days, a marketing representative of a
pathological laboratory in Vasant Vihar approached him. In a professional
manner, he explained about the various diagnostic facilities available in their
laboratory and requested him to avail their services. Shekhar was happy to note
about a wide range of testing facilities available under one roof near his
clinic.
After a strategic pause during the discussions, the marketing
representative said, “Doctor, we shall pay you a commission of 40% on all the
tests recommended by you to your patients.”
Again, Shekhar was surprised at this offer. He said
sheepishly, “No, I do not require any such commission … I recommend only those
tests to my patients, which help me to diagnose their ailments better. That’s
all …”
“Yes Doctor, we agree with you. However, this is our
gratitude towards you, for directing your patients to our laboratory …”
Once again, Shekhar got lost in deep thoughts. He was not
sure, about the ethical aspect of that deal. Like the previous offer, he
decided to think about the new one too later.
In just a few months, many more medical representatives
belonging to different pharmaceutical companies visited him and offered him
certain percentage as commission. Similarly, many more marketing
representatives of the pathological laboratories located in the immediate
vicinity also visited him and offered different percentages as commission for
recommending tests to their patients.
He soon noticed a world of difference in his attitude. After
diagnosing a patient, whenever he held the pen against the prescription pad, he
would be more inclined to prescribe those medicines, which offered him higher
percentages as commission. Sometimes, he prescribed those tablets, which were
not required by the patient, but offered him good percentage as commission. Of
course, such tablets acted merely as vitamin supplements and had no side
effects on the patients.
Earlier, whenever patients had some ailments, Shekhar would
prescribe them the routine tests such as blood test, urine test, X-ray etc. He
would ask them to do advanced tests, only when it was required for a more
accurate diagnosis of some serious ailment. However, he realized that there
too, his thinking was now biased towards recommending those tests, which
fetched him more commission. His choice of diagnostic centers was also being
influenced by the commission offered to him instead of their accuracy and
reliability of reports.
…
‘The Second Chance’ releases in June 2018.
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