India is promoting the "high-tech healing" of its private healthcare sector as a tourist attraction. The government hopes to encourage a budding trade in medical tourism, selling foreigners the idea of traveling to India for low-cost but world-class medical treatment. Naresh Trehan, executive director of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Center, a leading private healthcare provider, says, “ India has established world-class expertise in practices such as cardiac care, cosmetic surgery, joint replacements and dentistry”.
Merging medical expertise and tourism became government policy when finance minister M.A.Chidambaram, in this year's budget, called for India to become a "global health destination". There is no doubt that the Indian medical industry's main appeal is low-cost treatment. Most estimates claim treatment costs in India start at around a tenth of the price of comparable treatment in America or Britain.
For example, in April Madras Medical Mission, a Chennai-based hospital, successfully conducted a complex heart operation on an 87-year-old American patient at a reported cost of $8,000 (€7,000, £4,850) including the cost of his airfare and a month's stay in hospital. The patient claimed that a less complex operation in America had earlier cost him $40,000.
Take the rising popularity of "preventive health screening". At one private clinic in London a thorough men's health check-up that includes blood tests, electro-cardiogram tests, chest x-rays, lung tests and abdominal ultrasound costs £345 ($574, €500).
According to Hari Prasad, vice-president of Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad, foreigners should have confidence in India's medical system because many Britons and Americans are accustomed to being treated by expatriate Indian doctors. In any case, most private healthcare providers hold modest ambitions about which foreign patients would come to India seeking treatment.
There is a potential market of some 12m expatriate Indians who would combine regular visits to India and save time and money by undergoing non-emergency procedures such as eye operations, dental work, cosmetic surgery and knee surgery
Source: The Financial Times India's rise in medical tourism
India is cashing in on its reputation for quality care with surgery available for rock-bottom prices. There was a time when doing a search for “India” and “surgery” on the internet simply came up with reports about knee operations on cricketers from the sub-continent. Now dozens of agencies and hospitals offering top-quality surgery at rock-bottom prices top the listings.
In just five years health tourism to India has exploded, with hospitals currently estimated to treat 150,000 foreigners a year. A Confederation of Indian Industry report predicts that medical tourism will be worth $1 billion to the economy by 2012. An agency that specializes in putting prospective patients in touch with Indian hospitals claims that the industry is growing at the rate of 30 per cent a year. Official figures indicate that visitors from 55 countries come to India for treatment but the biggest growth in business is from the UK and America.
Why is India so popular? Cost is the driving factor. Patients wanting prompt private treatment usually pay 20-50 per cent of the UK cost for surgery. A single knee replacement in the UK costs about £9,000 but a Madras clinic quotes the operation at £2,150. The agency Surgery Abroad International offers breast enlargement operations in India for £1,000, compared with about £3,500.
The quality of medical facilities and staff in India is increasingly rated internationally. About £50 million has been invested by private healthcare companies in India in the past decade. In addition, about 75 per cent of healthcare services in India are now in the private sector and new private hospitals with state of the art equipment have been built in many of the big cities. The Indian Tourist Board lists dozens of recommended hospitals for cardiology, orthopaedics, keyhole surgery, oncology, cosmetic surgery and holistic healthcare .There is also a good supply of well-qualified doctors and experienced surgeons.
The Department of Health advises anybody considering surgery abroad to consider every angle first. “Think about the standard of the facility, the qualifications and experience of the doctor and what you can do if something goes wrong,” a spokesman says.
By times online Medical Tourism: Heal Better, Heal Faster
Quality medical treatment at low cost, coupled with great traveling experience is possibly the perfect way to recover from any medical ailment. Medical treatment is a costly affair in developed nations that has made patients from these countries thinks twice before undergoing any medical treatment in their own country. As such, they find it more beneficial to avail treatment in foreign countries offering similar and even better medical services at a far more economical cost. An inexpensive vacation package combined with a low cost medical treatment has led to the evolution of a new but rapidly growing industry called medical tourism.
One of the reasons leading to the growth in medical tourism is the availability of quality medical services at a comparatively low cost in some of the developing countries. Another factor that has contributed to the growth of medical tourism is the increased degree of convenience associated with it. Some countries functioning through a public health-care system often result in long delay in the required medical treatment.
The waiting period for a hip replacement surgery may even take more than a year or two which can eventually leave the patient in excruciating pain for all those years. Similar medical procedures are initiated in matter of few days in leading medical tourism destinations like India. Proper medical treatment followed by an exotic vacation can be a great aid in speedy recovery. Medical Tourism packages not only offer patients the opportunity for world-class treatment at affordable price but also provide them with an enchanting holiday experience.
Why India
The countries where medical tourism is being actively promoted include Greece, South Africa, Jordan, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. India is a recent entrant into medical tourism. According to a study by McKinsey and the Confederation of Indian Industry, medical tourism in India could become a $1 billion business by 2012. The Indian government predicts that India's $17-billion-a-year health-care industry could grow 13 per cent in each of the next six years, boosted by medical tourism, which industry watchers say is growing at 30 per cent annually.
Price advantage is a major selling point. The slogan, thus is, "First World treatment' at Third World prices". The cost differential across the board is huge: only a tenth and sometimes even a sixteenth of the cost in the West. Open-heart surgery could cost up to $70,000 in Britain and up to $150,000 in the US; in India's best hospitals it could cost between $3,000 and $10,000. Knee surgery (on both knees) costs 350,000 rupees ($7,700) in India; in Britain this costs £10,000 ($16,950), more than twice as much. Dental, eye and cosmetic surgeries in Western countries cost three to four times as much as in India.
India have a lot of hospitals offering world class treatments in nearly every medical sector such as cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, joint replacement, orthopedic surgery, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, transplants and urology to name a few.
For long promoted for its cultural and scenic beauty, India is now being put up on international map as a heaven for those seeking quality and affordable healthcare. Analysts say that as many as 150,000 medical tourists came to India in 2004. As Indian corporate hospitals are on par, if not better than the best hospitals in Thailand, Singapore, etc there is scope for improvement, and the country is becoming a preferred medical destination. In addition to the increasingly top class medical care, a big draw for foreign patients is also the very minimal or hardly any waitlist as is common in European or American hospitals.
Promoting Medical Tourism in India
Medical tourism focuses on treatment of acute illness, elective surgeries such as cardiology and cancer, among others. From October this year, the Government plans to start overseas marketing of India as a medical tourism destination. Senior Government officials say that the formalities for marketing medical facilities to a global audience have already started and they hope to complete the process of price banding of hospitals in various cities by the third quarter of this year. The government of India is of the opinion that by marketing India as a global medical tourism destination, it could capitalize on the low-cost, high-quality medical care available in the country.
Statistics show that the medical tourism industry in India is worth $333 million (Rs 1,450 crore) whiles a study by CII-McKinsey estimates that the country could earn Rs 5,000-10,000 crore by 2012. Probably realizing the potential, major corporate such as the Tatas, Fortis, Max, Wockhardt, Piramal, and the Escorts group have made significant investments in setting up modern hospitals in major cities. Many have also designed special packages for patients, including airport pickups, visa assistance and board and lodging.
Among the factors that make India an attractive proposition for medical treatment is cost efficiency. The estimated cost for a heart surgery in the U.S is $30,000, however the same could be performed India for about $6,000. Similarly, a bone marrow transplant could cost about $2,50,000 in the US while it could be done here for about $26,000.
Elaine AckrilUK My sincere and heartfelt gratitude to Treatment- trips and it has been almost 5 months since I did my procedure. I feel wonderful with my new flat tummy. The compliments that I have received from my family, friends and co-workers instill th...
