The science of healing, the relief of pain, the prolongation of life itself - medicine, perhaps above all other sciences, commands our reverential respect. But what about the way our hospitals are staffed with doctors from poor countries? What about the vast expense of modern surgery, the vast profits of the drug trade?

John Percival continues to argue the case against expensive modern technology asking whether the poor countries can afford the kind of medicine that the rich countries now demand as a right.