I agree with Greg's estimate of medical practitioners- they are not scientists, by and large. It isn't what they're trained for.

And while it is certainly true that some medical problems are really difficult, I expect there is also a lot of low-hanging fruit. Part of the problem is likely that medical research is to a large extent governed not by "What is easy to cure?" but by "What is profitable to treat?" or "What would be prestigious to research?"

Do any countries' national health services research and produce their own drugs and treatments? I would like to know how their goals and results differ from other researchers.