Published on: December 6, 2010

We have, on this blog, talked about the high costs of modern medical treatment and its impact on society.

The 2009 edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine says,

… a study in rural Kerala, South India, of those below the poverty line, the main reason for the poverty in nearly 30 percent of cases was the cost of medical treatment.

Well, India does not seem to have monopoly on the matter. The UK’s Independent newspaper reports in “Counting the cost of a drugs revolution” that Western medicines are making China’s ancient medical practices increasingly redundant, but their high price tag is also pushing millions further into poverty.

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RELATED

• WHO: Health care and poverty reduction as the starting point for the happiness of mankind
• The ‘West’ is not immune, Al Jazeera: The paradox of US healthcare