A late-night health scare made one doctor stop and appreciate the things that are often overlooked about living in India; from pharmacies open late to getting medicines when you need them.
Dr Deepanjali Sharma shared a video on Instagram describing how her husband, also a doctor, suddenly fell ill one evening. He had first developed a headache before beginning to vomit repeatedly, prompting her to head out at 10 pm to arrange medicines.
“I’m heading out to get some medications and IV injections for him. And it is in moments like these that I realise it is such a blessing to be in India,” she said.
For Sharma, the experience brought back her impressions of healthcare access in the UK and other Western countries. She said that even as a doctor, getting immediate assistance or access to certain medicines abroad could be far more complicated, particularly outside regular hours.
“If I were in the UK right now, or in any Western country. I would have had to wait in line. It’s possible that in the emergency department, which stays so overloaded, my husband wouldn’t have received immediate assistance right away,” she said, adding that medicines were not as readily available for her to simply pick up.
In India, however, she said she could leave home late at night, get what she needed and return to care for her husband.
Her point, Sharma stressed, was not that India’s healthcare system was flawless. “There are definitely loads of things that need improvement in our country, but we shouldn’t forget no country offers a 100/100 best-case-scenario experience to us!” she wrote.
She also acknowledged that her experience came from a position of personal privilege and that easy access to healthcare was not a reality for everyone in India. But her larger message was aimed at those who view moving abroad as an automatic upgrade in every aspect of life.
“There are many struggles. Things that we take for granted in India present themselves as struggles over there,” she said.
Watch the video here:
The video garnered a lot of attention, with several users agreeing that 24-hour pharmacies, relatively easy access to doctors and quicker availability of medicines were conveniences they appreciated about India.
Others pointed out that the comparison also exposed deeper differences in healthcare systems, including concerns around regulation and easy access to prescription drugs.
Some users, meanwhile, echoed Sharma’s broader takeaway: no country offers a perfect life, every place comes with its own set of comforts, compromises and frustrations.
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Published By:
Srimoyee Chowdhury
Published On:
Aug 30, 2026 10:03 IST