HAS MEDICINE BECOME A BUSINESS TODAY

This work aims to investigate the shift of healthcare from the traditional clinical patient centred model to the business model with reference to its ethical, professional and social impact. Analysing interviews with doctors and nurses and focusing on the results of the survey, the study reveals conflicts between business interests and human-oriented values. Topics covered are privatisation of the health care system players including BHP Billiton’s private health care providers, pharmaceutical pricing models, and shifts surrounding the business of health care and health care as a public utility. The results therefore highlight the need to adopt a mixed model that can simultaneously provide financial profitability for the practice and fair delivery of and affordable care to patients. In doing so, this study enriches the conversation about how best to synergise efficiency with morality in globalised healthcare systems.