Everybody must have heard about the Jamtara fraudsters who are out to wipe out your hard earned savings. These are digital thugs who con the gullible people. Similarly there are many online pathological labs which offer heavy discounts to the tune of 50-75% on their websites and mobile applications for booking lab tests. Unlike Radiology where a film is the evidence of doing the test, pathology has no such evidence. This allows many crooks to offer pathology services at discounted prices. Their modus operandi is quite simple. They have no machines and do not carry out any tests. They simply collect your blood sample and prepare a lab report without doing any testing. You only get a pdf report from them against the payment done by you and blood sample given.

Will you buy an iphone if a particular website is offering 70% discount while the others are not. You would obviously smell the fraud in such an offer. Why do people fall for such heavy discounts when it comes to healthcare. It is your body and your health. We often parrot the lines – `Health is Wealth’ but when it comes to caring for the same health, we fall for discounts. Wrong test report can play havoc with your life. You would be incorrectly diagnosed with a disease which you do not have and would be put on medications. Allopathic medicines have huge side effects and should be consumed only when you need them. However in case of faulty diagnosis you not only waste money on unnecessary medicines but also harm your health. When it comes to these digital pathology labs, nobody knows where their lab is located and how do they perform the tests. The accuracy of test results in pathology depend on the quality of the machines, quality of the reagent used in the testing and the experience of the pathologist and lab technicians. They claim to have their lab in far off Noida or Mumbai. Have you ever seen their laboratory to trust them. You are not buying a product but a service which runs on the trust of the patients and their doctors. Your doctors do not trust these fly by night operators in the field of pathology, so  why should you trust them. In your greed to save some pennies, you end up losing dollars. If you do not want to be fleeced then trust your local physical lab which you can visit and inspect to judge the quality. Local pathologist will never cheat the patients living in their own city. It is your money and it is your health. So the final call is on YOU.