Jaipur high on medical tourism - India News - Webindia123.com

Jaipur high on medical tourism - India News - Webindia123.com

Now Jaipur is plannng a medical tourism strategy... the question is probably who is not planning a medical tourism marketing campaign


Jaipur | February 18, 2006 2:40:59 PM IST

Medical tourism is gaining ground in the Pink City known for its rich history and heritage.

Tourists from Afghanistan and Pakistan are flocking here as they are get cheap and efficient health care services and are treated like a five-star patient, say doctors.

A patient from Afghanistan who has undergone cardiac angioplasty is currently recuperating at city's S K Soni Hospital, informed Dr P D Agarwal, a department head of the hospital.

Dr Agarwal informed the hospital is the first and the only one from the city to be on the panel where foreign patients can be admitted.

A UK based company Fraser Faville Ltd headed by Asmat Hussain, who is of Indian origin, is expected to sign an MoU with the hospital, and will send about 100 patients every year to S K Soni Hospital accouting for a business of Rs three crore.

The company has tied up with Hotel Rajputana Sheraton where the patients can stay and tour around the city before being admitted to the hospital for treatment.

Once the patient is admitted, the responsibility lies with the hospital till he recuperates completely, said Dr Agarwal.

Doctors from UK made a round of the S K Soni hospital and were satisfied with the facilities. There have been queries from Canada and Pakistan, informed Dr Agarwal but the actual patients are yet to come.

British patients are keen to get treated in India, especially at Jaipur as the place is an interesting tourist destination apart from being a centre of modern and advanced medical service.

Also there's a long waiting period for patients in UK under their National Health System (NHS), which often is detrimental to serious patients. Hence they prefer to get treated in India, where luxury and better health care facilities await them.

The S K Soni hospital will put up a stall at the Medical Tourism Expo, 2006 to be held in London from 2-4 June. The stall will showcase Jaipur as a major medical tourism destination and highlights its potential in the field, Dr Agarwal informed.

Now Mauritius wants in on Medical Tourism

: "
Friday, February 17, 2006 (Port Louis):

Mauritian deputy prime minister has come to India to invite investments from top names in the Indian healthcare space.

Apollo Hospitals is the first to bite the bait. They are setting up a hospital in Mauritius soon and hope to get it up and running by the end of next year.

At least two other Indian groups, the Hindujas and the Oberois are talking to the Mauritian government to set up five star hospitals there.

In return they will get many incentives, including tax holidays."

I am not sure you can simply import India's medical culture by government fiat! Furthermore, they are going to have to think through their transport links as well as other aspects of their infrastructure

Downside of Medical Tourism for US Healthcare System

Interesting and somewhat contentious argument that hypthesizes some of the longer term effects of US citizens electing to travel overseas for their procedures.

He suggests a somewhat domesday scenario...

"We're predicting that U.S. healthcare consumers, freed of any
constraints over their spending, will seek out low-cost substitutes and
are increasingly likely to turn to high-quality, low-cost global
providers. President Bush and Congress should carefully weigh the
long-term needs of a robust U.S. healthcare system. Unregulated
healthcare markets will nourish the rapidly growing and rapidly
improving foreign suppliers.

At the same time, while apparently saving consumers money in the
short term, medical tourism has the potential to damage the financial
and human foundations of the U.S. healthcare system."

You can read the whole article on the impact of medical tourism here

Youthful India confident it can offer a cure for the ailing West

Youthful India confident it can offer a cure for the ailing West

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Bombay (Filed: 11/02/2006)

Bristling with confidence, India aims 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 whiz-kids 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.

Bombay's Jaslok Hospital already devotes a floor to Gulf patients, some of the 170,000 foreigners flying to India each year for knee, hip, spine, and heart surgery at bargain prices. It is now seeing the first pioneers from the West.

Dan Robertson, 63, found his way there from Arizona after researching hip ailments on the internet.

Crippled with pain and short 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 sunset view of the Arabian Sea.

"People come here from all over the world to get new hips, so I was quite comfortable with the idea," he said. "It cost me a fraction of what it would in the US, even with air fares for my sister and everything."

The Jaslok, one of Bombay's seven hospitals, has all the latest Western kit.

Equipped by Siemens, it boasts 64-slice CT scanners to diagnose coronary blockages without invasive surgery, flat panel Cathlabs and MRI systems with total imaging technology.

If the machines are identical to those in top US and British hospitals, the prices are not. Jaslok offers a total body scan to detect early cancer for £72, compared with £2,200 quoted in Britain.

A room with food and nursing costs £35 a night, rising to £50 for a deluxe suite. As a non-profit trust hospital, it recycles the fees to fund free care for poor Indians.

Dr Ehandapany Raghavan, vice-president of Siemens Medical, said sheer necessity will force the West to subcontract its care to India as ageing populations stretch medical budgets to breaking point.

"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."

US hospitals already use Indian doctors for night emergencies, sending data from X-rays and scans electronically for instant analysis.

A study by the Confederation of Indian Industry forecasts that medical tourism will reach $2.3 billion a year by 2012 and could further rise significantly.

India's 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 - Bombay, Bangalore, Poona and Goa.

"We're 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 60pc over the next five years. The NHS can't afford this."

But a gap in insurance cover can cause a problem.

Bupa does not pay for UK residents to seek treatment overseas but the big American health insurers such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield are quietly funding trips to India.

"About one in five of our medical tourists are now coming from Canada and the US," said Kanta Masand, director at Jaslok.

"We're starting to see English patients too, thanks to the failings of the NHS," he said.

The 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.

Health patriotism may be a luxury. An OECD report this week said British medical costs will rise from 7.2pc to 12.7pc 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.