By Vinod Shah
Decatur, IL: In these days and age we have a lot of Indian doctors, who find innovative ways to recruit new patients by advertising themselves at so-called health fairs. Their main goal is to aim at people, who are on Medicare or Medicaid so that they can milk the government millions of dollars in unnecessary procedures.
Recently I attended one such health fair named after Sai Baba. Yes, I paid $25 for the blood work and results were mailed to me one week later with a note to show it to my primary care doctor. At the fair my blood pressure was checked, an EKG was taken and my hearing was tested with simple audiogram. The audiologist tried to sell me a hearing aid costing $2,000 and the doctor that was consulted to interpret EKG chart told me to see a specialist. He even offered me names of his friends, who are specialists.
Furthermore, we all went in the morning without any breakfast. By the time the fair ended, it was almost 1:00 p.m. and not surprisingly, we were not offered any food while the doctors were served lunch. When asked, we were told that they ran out of snacks. I saw one woman eating an energy bar in the waiting area that she brought with her.
In light of the above facts, I presume that this health fair or any other health fair for that matter is only meant to be used as a publicity tool for the doctors to recruit new patients.
Walgreens has started a project called “Love To Live” and they offer more free tests using latest equipments than these so-called Indian health fairs. The Walgreens project even suggests vitamin supplements for various ailments.
My advice is to stay away from these so-called health fairs and stick with your own doctors, who will order tests when needed and they will be covered by the insurance company or Medicare/Medicaid.
