The unethical revenue targets that India's corporate hospitals set their doctors.

“For seven years I had to bear the burden of doing unnecessary investigations and procedures, including angioplasty, under pressure from the management of the hospital,” GautamMistry, a cardiologist in Kolkata, told The BMJ. What Mistry is describing is one of the best kept secrets of India’s private healthcare sector—consultants hired by private hospitals have to meet targets for generating revenue by overprescribing diagnostic tests and avoidable surgeries. No data exist on the prevalence of such targets, and Mistry did not disclose details of what targets he had been set. “Significant numbers of patients must be advised to be admitted for surgery or medical procedures that bring in real financial profit for the hospital,” explained Kunal Saha, adjunct professor and HIV/AIDS consultant in Ohio, United States, and president of People for Better Treatment, a non-governmental organisation that promotes corruption free healthcare in India. Unnecessary risk, additional cost