Quacktastic
Ouff, this rain is really eating away at my Optimism... (navigate away if you want light stuff)
Just run through these figures and see what it makes you think of the profusion of private clinics in larger cities:
Income (in ETB):
Consultation fee: 10 ETB x 50 Patients per day = 500 ETB (x 30) =15,000/ month
Laboratory fee: 80 ETB x 50 Patients per day = 4500 ETB (x 30) = 135,000/ month
Annual Income: 135,000 x 12 = 1,620,000
Add 10% miscellaneous= Total annual income = 1,782,000 ETB
Expenditure (in ETB):
Rent: 3000/ month (x12) = 36, 000
Utilities: 2500/ month (x12) = 30,000
Equipment maintenance: 1500/ month (x12) = 18,000
Salary for 8 support staff @ 400/ month: 3200/ month (x12) = 38,400
Tax and licence fees: 1500/ month (x12)= 18,000
Annual expenditure: = 140,400 ETB
Add 10% contingency= Total annual expenditure = 154, 440 ETB
Annual break-even/ profit: 1,782,000 minus 154,440 = 1,625,760 ETB
1.6 million Birr take-home, both doctors earn ~500,000 a year (how much do they declare to the taxman and subsequently have to pay in income tax?...) (see NB below)
Everyone has to make a living, especially as a freelancer you have to take what comes; in addition the figures in US$ etc would be laughable and perhaps 50% of the population can afford to pay that and more.
The point is that most private clinics are run like businesses, with a minimum daily turnover stipulated to all staff, especially the doctors. Turnover of cold hard cash, not people helped or any such soppy notions. Therefore, what does this mean on the ground:
-A normal flu suddenly requires intravenous treatment with “anti-inflammatory” drugs
-A skin irritation is diagnosed (using an array of blood tests, urine and stool analysis, when a swab of the area could have been the solution) both as a bacterial infection and allergy, with medication of the 3rd generation variety being doled out like qolo for both and neither.
-A colicky child has to take potent antibacterial drugs against the trinity of favourites: Typhoid, Typhus and Amoeba after the blood and stool had been examined in a messy, barely-sanitary laboratory right next to the filthy “washroom”
Another point is that if at least after all that hocus-pocus the right diagnosis and treatment were given to achieve long-lasting recovery and health the unscrupulous rip-off could just be excused.
NB: Calculations based on first hand information:
Local clinic with 24 hour- 7 day service close to a major transportation taxi hub in densely populated area so patient numbers are roughly 50/ day
Overnight stays and surgery excluded from sums
Lab fees always add up to a minimum of 75-80 Birr per visit, no matter whether it is a sprained foot and a blood test is ordered to check for stomach ulcer causing bacteria (Oh that rascal H. plyori! Nasty bug, but does it make you miss the steps on the stairs? No but it costs 70-120 ETB a pop for testing.)
All expenditure figures are assumed based on common fees for rent, overheads etc. plus 8 staff (excluding big cheeses)f: 2 Security, 1 Receptionist, 2 doctor’s assistants, 3 lab staff
posted by Dina @ 8:13 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Damn that biology teacher.. he could have been a little more humane on my grade
I was at a book reading last Thursday evening, There is No Me Without You by Melissa Greene - it's a non-fiction about an "unofficial" orphanage, mainly for kids who lost their parents to AIDS, in Addis (after reading wonki's story about Ato G, I'm not sure how long it's gonna remain unofficial) --- it made me think if we can do better with the little resources we have... now you with this...!!
Enkuan Aderesesh Ete!!
me thinks there is big error in arithmetic and very bold assumptions. if a physician works 8 hours and sspends 1/4 hour with each patient, he attends to maximum 32 patients per day. if he sees patients 4 days a week, the sum total per week is then 128. you see he has to consult and look at his patients charts and records the other (fifth) day. at 10 per visit and 4 weeks a month it adds up to only 5120. if one works 11 monthes ayear this translates to 56320 per year. even conceding everything else in ur calc. wha is all the fuss
Errr, the fuss being misdiagnosis and consequently bad health and even death. My assumptions include a 24-7 clinc with 2 doctors- and trust me, they churn through the full waiting room at 5 minutes per patient, the 10Birr is just consultation, the visit invariably involves lab checks- read again.
This is rubbish to say the list.
Is it pure " Mekegenet" or what?
Private clinic is a business. You can't tell me how to run my business but the estimates you have is utterly poor. Where in the city you find ( in the center of taxi hubs- as you say it) a place as big as a clinic for 3000??
Last guy:Are u a doc and spell so bad? so u admit private clinic is a "business" with people's lives and health?!?! you sicko!
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