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Tourists
from around the world are beginning to realize the potential
of modern and traditional Indian medicine. Indian hospitals
and medical establishments have also realized the potential
of this niche market and have begun to tailor their services
for foreign visitors. At a regional geo-political level, this
nascent industry came to limelight with the arrival of 'Naby
Noor' from Pakistan, who came by the Indo-Pak bus service
and got a red-carpet treatment at hospital in Bangalore. Several
Indian state governments have realized the potential of this
'industry' and have been actively promoting it. Visitors,
especially from the west and the middle-east find Indian hospitals
a very affordable and viable option to grappling with insurance
and National medical systems in their native lands. Many prefer
to combine their treatments with a visit to the 'exotic east'
with their families, killing two birds with one stone. For
further details on Indian Medical tourism Industry, click
here. You
may also visit our health sections at Ayurveda,
or Yoga or
the Sitemap
India World's preferred
healthcare destination
With
an estimated 1.7 lakh foreigners already flying to India for
medical treatment annually, the country is poised to capture
the fast-growing market for off-shore health care and help
solve the crisis of surging medical costs in the developed
world.
Just as
Indian computer whizkids can now match US and European software
analysts at any level of sophistication, its army of doctors
and nurses can offer comparable care, at minimal cost, a media
report said in London.
Mumbai's
Jaslok Hospital has a floor devoted to Gulf patients, which
are among the 1.7 lakh foreigners flying to India each year
for knee, hip, spine and heart surgery at bargain prices,
The Daily Telegraph reported.
Dr Ehandapany
Raghavan, vice president of Siemens Medical, said sheer necessity
would force the West to subcontract its care to India.
"General
Motors spends $6 billion a year on health care, it's killing
the company," he said. "These firms are going to have to
turn to India because but there's no other choice," he told
the newspaper.
US hospitals
already use Indian doctors for night emergencies, sending
data from X-rays and scans electronically for instant analysis.
63-year-old Dan Robertson found his way to Jaslok Hospital
from Arizona after researching hip ailments on the Internet.
Crippled
with pain and shortage of money, the estate agent boarded
a plane and travelled to a country he knew little about for
a double hip replacement. A month later he seemed ecstatic
as he hobbled across his airy room with a sun set view.
"People
come here from all over the world for hip ailments, so I was
quite comfortable with the idea," Robertson said. "It cost
me a fraction of what it would in the US, even with airfares
for my sister and everything.
" According
to Taj Medical Group, a knee operation that might cost £10,000
in the UK can be obtained in India for £4,900, including travel
and accommodation.
Patients
seeking minor surgery combine their treatment with holidays
at post resorts, which are included in the price.
The hospital
has all the latest Western kit with machines identical to
those in top US and British hospitals but the prices are not.
Jaslok offers a total body scan to detect early cancer for
£72, compared with £2,200 quoted in Britain.
A study
by the Confederation of Indian Industry forecast that medical
tourism will reach $2.3 billion dollars a year by 2012 and
could further rise significantly.
Wockhardt
drug company and Apollo Hospitals, an Indian chain, are both
bidding, aggressively for the trade. The Wockhardt Heart Centre
in Bangalore is one of just 50 hospitals worldwide with a
top US rating.
Leslie
Smith, founder of Medibrokers in Britain, said it would not
be long before charter flights packed with medical tourists
descended on the sub-continent's medical hubs - Mumbai, Bangalore,
Pune and Goa.
"We are
going to see jumbo jets painted white bringing people over
for due diligence check ups, like brain and body scans," he
said. "In Britain alone, the demand for knee surgery is expected
to grow by 60 per cent, over the next five years. The National
Health Service can't afford this." Kanta Masand, director
at Jaslok said "about one in five of our medical tourists
are now coming from Canada and the US." "We're starting to
see English patients too, thanks to the failings of the NHS,"
he said. At present a few Britons come at their own expense.
The NHS is under orders from Downing Street to halt foreign
treatment, deeming the practice a stain on Labour's health
record.
"Waiting
lists are down to six months so we don't need to look abroad.
We certainly have no plans to send anybody to India," said
a spokesman.
An expert
report this week said British medical costs would rise from
7.2 per cent to 12.7 per cent of GDP by 2050, a pattern reflected
across the developed world.
Even China
will soon be facing an ageing crisis, leaving youthful India
as the one big country left with the spare health capacity
and medical skills to nurse the West in its dotage, the newspaper
noted.
Article
Source: Rediff.com
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