THE HIDDEN CRUELTY OF INDIAN HOSPITALS – FOODPHARMER AND VARUN DUBEY EXPOSE WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE IN INDIA’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

(MENAFN- Avian We) September 02, 2025 – In a searing new episode of the Rethink India podcast, Food Pharmer sits down with Varun Dubey, CEO of Superhealth Hospital and former CMO of Ola Electric and Chief Revenue Officer at Apollo Hospitals, to diagnose the deep-rooted inefficiencies and pricing controversies plaguing India’s healthcare system.
Key Discussion:
• Broken Billing & Hidden Costs: The conversation sheds light on how Indian hospitals routinely overcharge patients through arbitrary billing – including unexplained variations for identical services (such as chest vs. leg X-rays, or room class-based cost differences) and hidden costs that undermine patient trust.
• Doctor Compensation Crisis: Dubey discusses a flawed system where doctors are forced into transactional, sales-like relationships with their employers, evaluated on revenue targets instead of patient outcomes or satisfaction, leading to burnout, excessive workload, and overt commercialization in medicine.
• Patient Experience at its Worst: Long hospital wait times, discharge delays, and a general lack of transparency combine to erode trust. Patients frequently end up paying far more than the initial quote, often with little clarity on the reasons behind the charges.
• Hospital Economics: The episode explores the extremely capital-intensive nature of building large hospitals, where high construction and land costs drive up patient bills—without necessarily improving care quality.
• Superhealth’s Disruptive Solutions: Superhealth Hospital introduces a new model with smaller, hyper-local hospitals focused on quality care, transparent pricing, and a patient-centric approach. Dubey champions the idea of stable salaries and ESOPs for doctors based on patient satisfaction, not sales, aiming to realign healthcare incentives with better medical outcomes.
• Rebuilding Trust: Both hosts argue for radical change, suggesting that community-based hospitals, transparent cost structures, and outcome-linked doctor incentives can restore trust and make quality healthcare more accessible and affordable for Indians.

Quote from the Episode:
"The whole Indian healthcare system is broken – from trust gaps and operational inefficiencies to the way doctors and patients are treated. The solution is not just about building more giant hospitals, but about rewarding care, honesty, and patient satisfaction," says Varun Dubey.
This insightful episode calls for industry, policymakers, and citizens to rethink health leadership, pricing transparency, compensation for medical professionals, and hospital design for a fairer, more compassionate healthcare future.
Solutions to Fix Broken Incentives for Doctors
A standout segment of the podcast addresses how the existing model evaluates doctors based on the revenue or sales they generate for the hospitals.
Varun Dubey views on the current healthcare system:
“Doctors today are being monitored and reviewed by management based on how much money or revenue they bring into the hospital. Essentially, every doctor is on a sales treadmill—if they don't meet the sales or patient volume targets, their position is at risk. But bringing patients to the hospital isn’t a doctor’s job. Their job is to treat patients well.”
“If an engineer in a tech startup isn’t measured by how many app downloads they generate, why should doctors be measured by the number of patients they bring? Engineers get paid a salary and ESOPs and are judged by the quality and impact of their work. Doctors deserve the same respect and compensation model.”
• Doctors should be compensated with a fixed salary and ESOPs (Employee Stock Options), just like professionals in other industries, rewarding them for medical outcomes and patient satisfaction rather than sales targets.
• Patient outcomes and speed of recovery should be the primary metrics for evaluating a doctor, not just revenue generation.

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