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The remedy is worse than the disease, an English proverb says. Yes, that's true and we may add that good health is better than the best medicine. If your health is good, you are always in a good mood. You have a sound mind in a sound body, as an Old Latin saying goes. The English proverb "Sickness in the body brings sickness to the mind, expresses the similar idea, but from the different point of view.

In Britain today people are putting time, money, and energy into keeping well and keeping fit. Health care's important. So is diet. And so is fitness!

If you're ill in Britain, you go to see your GP. A GP is a general practitioner, or family doctor.

There are over 36,000 GPs in Britain and about a third of them are women. Each GP has nearly 2,000 patients, if you need medicine, your GP will write a prescription for youto take to a chemist's or pharmacy.

You don't have to pay to see your doctor, but you will probably have to pay part of the cost of your medicine, unless you belong to one of the groups of people who get their medicine free, for example, you're a student, or over 60, or expecting a baby.

Chemists prepare about 505 million prescriptions a year.

If you need to see a specialist doctor, or have medical tests or an operation, your doctor will send you to a hospital like this. This is the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. In Britain most doctors and hospitals are part of the NHS, the National Health Service.

All NHS hospital treatment and operations are free. In fact, the NHS provides free medical care for everyone in Britain from the very young … to the very old. When the NHS started in 1948, it provided free visits to doctors and dentists; free treatment, free prescriptions, free eye tests and free glasses. But today many people have to pay for prescriptions, for eye tests and glasses, and for trips to the dentist.

Britain has one of the highest levels of heart disease in the western world. It also has a very high level of cancer.

Nearly a million people work in the National Health Service in Britain, and it costs almost £40 billion a year. It's a lot of money ... and there are still problems. People sometimes have to wait a long time before they can see a specialist or have an operation. Because of this, many people see private doctors and use other kinds of treatment, or alternative medicine, like reflexology, homeopathy, and acupuncture. It really doesn't hurt at all. In fact, there are more alternative medical practitioners in Britain than NHS doctors.

Medicine helps people get better, diet helps them stay healthy. If you eat well, you'll probably have a longer and healthier life. Nowadays British people eat less red meat and more fresh fruit and vegetables than in the past. New medicines and better diet have raised life expectancy.

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