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HEALTH: MEDICAL VACATIONS
Home Remedy
Drawn by top-notch medical care and scalpel —
dropping costs in India foreign patients — mainly from the diaspora
— are combining recuperation and recreation
By Himanshi Dhawan
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LIFELINE: Govind Toholoo's parents chose India
for the baby's treatment for its low costs and good patient care
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Ram Yead woke up
to the comfortable murmur of familiar voices and the anxious faces of
friends and relatives. A little uneasy after a complicated bypass surgery,
he drifted back to unconsciousness reassured beyond words. The pensioner
from Mauritius knew that having his operation at Bombay Hospital in India
had been the right decision. For Yead it made sense since he had family
support in Mumbai and the operation cost one-fourth the amount he would
otherwise have had to shell out back in Mauritius.
India-specifically Mumbai and Delhi-is beginning
to make its mark as the health destination of the world. Yead's steps
are being retraced by droves of people in south-east Asia, Sri Lanka,
Pakistan, South Africa, South America, UK and the US. Drawn by the lure
of quality medical care at scalpel-dropping rates, the number of foreign
patients has almost doubled in the past five years. There was an increase
of around 30 per cent in 2000 alone. At Delhi's Escorts Heart Institute
and Research Centre (EHIRC), the number of foreign patients rose from
104 in 1993 to 675 in October last year. "Patients come here as we
have state-of-the-art infrastructure, reasonable costs and excellent patient
care," says Dr Naresh Trehan, executive director, EHIRC. "Medical
tourism should be developed so that more people can benefit from the expertise
available in India."
Unlikely as it seems, healthcare is potentially
the best thing that has happened to the country after infotech. People
have become receptive to the idea of travelling to India for treatment
or undergo diagnosis with a holiday thrown in. "Medical tourism",
a coinage which gained ground after the influx of south-east Asian nationals
in the 1970s to Mumbai hospitals for lack of facilities in their native
countries, is the buzzword again. So while Yead planned his operation
with recuperation at his brother's house in Jaipur in mind, Dinesh Patel
from Nigeria combined jaw reconstruction surgery with a relaxing trip
to his native town, Vapi in Gujarat. Says K.G. Nair, former director (medical
services), Breach Candy hospital, Mumbai: "For a 150-bed hospital
we earned an estimated Rs 60-70 lakh in foreign exchange this year compared
to Rs 30 lakh just five years ago."
According to Anupam Verma, administrator, Hinduja
Hospital, Mumbai: "Domestic hospitals offer medical treatment including
post-operative care at one-fourth the cost abroad. While cataract surgery
costs around £1,000 (Rs 68,000) in the UK, excluding the doctor's
fees, our hospital charges a maximum of £350 (Rs 23,800) inclusive
of everything," he says. A simple cardiac surgery that would tear
a hole in your finances to the tune of Rs 30 lakh in the US would cost
Rs 2-3 lakh in India.
But patients would pay that extra pound rather
than risk complications arising out of poor treatment. So why come to
India for treatment? The extensive experience of Indian doctors plus a
tedious referral system and insurance hiccups in the UK and the US are
contributing factors. Thanks to India's large population, its doctors
treat twice the number of patients in their tenure than a doctor in the
West can even hope to see in his waiting room. Several others have either
studied or apprenticed abroad. "We bring back with us state-of-the-art
methods of treatment and knowledge," says Dr Paresh K. Doshi, neurosurgeon
at Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital.
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