Don’t you get annoyed by the number of tests a doctor recommends each time you go for a health checkup or for simple cough and cold?
Well, considering the present scenario, a wide range of tests are required if catching a cold, but the situation wasn’t the same three years back, yet the need for unnecessary medical tests was persistent even back then.
This is one of the reasons why many people, today, feel like avoiding doctors even when they should actually seek their help. This is when you should consider the best doctors in Kolkata to receive medical attention without the stress of unnecessary tests.
Now, why do they ask for so many tests?
Obviously, there is a marginal earning and profit involved, but apart from financial reasons, there are other motives behind the doctor recommending too many tests.
Let’s take a look
- Defensive medicine
More or less, many variable diseases show similar symptoms. For example, while a cough may signify a minor cold, it is also a sign of metastatic lung cancer. It has been often seen that a doctor, even after knowing you do not have cancer, may recommend you the test, just out of fear of being sued if you find out cancer after 5 or 10 years down the line.
- Limited results
At times it is important for doctors to know the condition of your health in-depth. While a blood sugar test can determine the level of sugar in our blood currently, a haemoglobin A1C will provide the doctor with your blood sugar count for the past few months. This information might seem helpful for the doctor to understand in which way he should take his treatment.
- Patient request
With the internet being one of our greatest friends, we often read medical articles or gather information on medicine and healthcare every now and then. Being too much aware and knowledgeable can be chaotic, and this chaos makes many patients request unnecessary tests.
Don’t you relate?
There are various patients who would want to be recommended unnecessary tests and might also be annoyed if the results are not as they doubted the reports to be.
- Prevention and screening
Most of the medical tests, today, are used for disease prevention. While screening may seem to be unnecessary for you and your symptom, it can be helpful for preventing possible diseases in the future. For say, you might not have colon cancer, but a doctor might recommend a screening colonoscopy if you are over 50 years to identify asymptomatic colon cancer well in time and treat it to save a life. This is one of the main reasons why even the best doctors in Kolkata might recommend some tests that you may find not necessary.
That being said, there are certain disadvantages of overtesting for which you should try to avoid doctors recommending unnecessary tests, such as –
- Overtesting is expensive, it can not only drain out your pockets on the day of tests but also increase your health insurance premium
- It may also have a negative impact on the health and the medicines and rays used for the test may have adverse effects on various parts of the body, leading to long-term damages in the future.
- Excessive radiation can increase the chances of several diseases.
- It also makes you believe you are completely healthy, even though you did tests unnecessarily and hence the results came out to be normal.
It is therefore beneficial to consult with the best doctors in Kolkata to be recommended for the test that would help you detect your health issues and that will have no persisting side effects.
In case you feel that the tests you are being recommended, will not solve your issue or have any questions in mind, it is always better to discuss with the doctor. If your doctor denies cooperating, then look for a better one.
Need help?
Get in touch with Dr. Amitabha Saha and address all your concerns with ease. His expertise, knowledge, cooperation and his bonding with his patients make him one of the best doctors in Kolkata, a specialist in internal medicine and critical care.
With over 22 years of practice experience and an adept team of dedicated and compassionate members, Dr. Amitabha Saha has been serving the healthcare industry to his best capabilities. He nurtures a healthy relationship with all his patients and considers it to be his responsibility to educate his patients about their health conditions and why they should get a particular test done and how the treatment would benefit them and help them deal with their condition.
So what are you waiting for?
Get in touch with him today and address all your health concerns conveniently and discuss your doubts without any hesitation.