Dumb Charade

Walk into any of the private diagnostic centers in Thimphu and you will end up paying a substantial amount for even a basic check that is already free at the JDWNRH.
This is just one of the many pulls and factors on our medical system which is not able to retain specialists and doctors beyond a certain period and at times even legal bonds.

Some even opt to take up other career options like joining international organizations, bureaucracy and politics that come with less stress and more perks.
This hemorrhaging of our much needed medical staff forced the Ministry of Health to approach the RCSC with certain additional pay proposals, which the RCSC flatly turned down due the restrictions in its own laws.
To put it in perspective the inability of the health system to hold on to its top people is the biggest ongoing crisis facing our free health care system.
Doctors see that comparatively they get lesser pay then doctors in the region, and they have a much higher workload compared to their civil servant compatriots in Bhutan.
Therefore, to get by the RCSC rules the ministry came up with the idea of corporatization so that there is more flexibility in paying and retaining medical staff.
There was no plan at any point to charge for the medical services. However, it seems that a wrong perception created by some politicians has spread and derailed the reforms.
Ordinary Bhutanese will be left to face the medical consequences as this major healthcare crisis continues to unfold.

“The life so short, the craft so long to learn.”
Hippocrates