Globe Health Tours News

Having written about the challenge of Malaria  and primary healthcare in Africa, there is a new epidemic beginning in the developed world: obesity or health conditions caused by lifestyle choices or through lifestyle ignorance. This cannot be addressed by normal healthcare and it is clear that the public health system has entirely failed in the prevention of underlying health conditions. How many UK and USA citizens are aware of trans fatty acids compared to say flu or colds, yet is beginning to dawn on us all that these lifestyle diseases are much more dangerous in the longer term.

“The announcement followed research that claimed that 86 per cent of men were expected to be overweight in 15 years and 70 per cent of women within 20 years.

It is anticipated that obesity could cost as much as £45 billion a year by 2050, to pay for growing incidents of diabetes, strokes and heart disease as well as the loss of earnings by those too heavy to work.”

Did u know that Uganda trains 150 doctors each year! Of those 150, almost 50 emigrate. That means that over a ten year period Uganda produces 1000 new doctors for a country of almost 17 million people with high incidence of diseases and very unstable neighbouring countries.

At the heart of Uganda’s health problem is the need to create a larger population doctors to provide the leadership the health community!

Most coverage of health care issues focuses on primary healthcare and the demands of managing the endemic killers like Malaria. The World Health Organisation has calculated that malaria costs Africa more than $12 billion a year and has resulted in the African GDP being 32 per cent lower than it would have been if malaria had been eradicated in the Sixties. Approximately three million die of Malaria each year. The determination and need to fight this disease means that resources are inevitably focused on these conditions and other illnesses which no longer require resource in the developed world. What is apparent from the statistics is that disease is both a social and also economic burden.

What is less apparent is how this skews healthcare away from more advanced or expensive solutions such as is required for cardiac patients or for the treatment of orthopaedic conditions.  For many African governments there is not the resource to do both. However this is at a political and economic and social cost as it stunts the growth of prosperity at the other end of the scale and requires citizens to leave to enjoy better quality of life.  Certainly, ambitious doctors moveto Europe or the USA to further their career, leaving behind a void which is not easily filled.

The solution is not capital expenditure alone. Surgical theatres need an ecology of knowledge around them from surgeons through to ICU nurses.  All of these skills are poached by developed nations without thought of the impact of their actions.

Medical tourism may have an interesting role to play in providing African middle class citizens with access to world class healthcare without western style costs.  In Europe we are used to our local hospital providing surgical care for most conditions. The african citizen is not. Travelling to India is not a lot different to travelling to somewhere else in Africa. If we can make the personal experience work and the medical outcome correct, we could help African nations provide middle classes with the healthcare facilities they need to persuade them to stay at home, and with the middle classes comes prosperity and political stability.

UK media is reporting on a new report which suggest that a “superbug” outbreak in hospitals in kent in the UK may have killed as many as 331 patients in one year as a result of poor hygeine an lax standards of care and management. It reports that althought managers knew of the issues, they did nothing or little to resolve them.

The report makes grim reading for the government as it suggests that management focus on hitting targets resulted in them failing to set aside resource to manage the infection problems.

The statistics for infections within the NHS make for very grim reading:

55,634 people over the age of 65 were infected with Clostridium diffiile last year in England.

1,170 patients were infected at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospital Trust between April 2004 and September 2006.

331 the number of patients who died where c.diff was the main cause or at least a likely contributing factor in their death.

50 million pounds of extra funding to fight hospital infections was announced in July this year by ministers.

45 per cent of hospital trusts reported that Government targets got in the way of implementing infection control.

3 per cent of adults carrying clostridium difficile harmlessly in their gut.

1 billion pounds is the estimated cost of healthcare associated infections each year to the NHS.

For increasing numbers of UK patients, the fear of these super bug infections is enough to get them to consider surgery in the private sector or abroad. Many enquiries for european countries and orthopaedic hospitals include references to infections and fear relating to the quality of the NHS.

Two parallel events are taking place here: fear of superbug infections is also leading UK citizens to question the overall quality and effectiveness of the nationalised health system. An increasingly common exclamation is that the system is broken.

Interesting piece of research from the Archives of Internal Medicine which analysed the association between negative aspects of close relationships and whether this had an impact statistically on increased risk for coronary heart disease as well as examining whether the association is strongersamong women and people of lower social position. In layman’s terms - does unhappiness cause heart disease.

To cut to the chase: the answer is yes.

After making adjustments for sociodemographic characteristics, biological factors, and other dimensions of social support, the “individuals who experienced negative aspects of close relationships had a higher risk of incident coronary events (hazard ratio, 1.34; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-1.63).”

The association was attenuated but remained statistically significant after additional adjustment for conditions of negative affectivity and depression. Although women and men in a lower employment grade were more likely to be exposed to negative aspects of close relationships, sex and social position had no statistically significant interaction effects. Confiding/emotional and practical support were not associated with incident coronary events.

This is pretty interesting as it is a 12 year study rather than a short snapshot and lends more weight to the hypothesis of positive psychology that happiness is also a health issue.

more is available here

With the advancement in science and technology, a leading hospital in Chennai,India is treating strokes,tumours, and fibroids through Pinhole surgeries. Through a puncture of size of a pinhole and with the help of a catheter as thin as a hair,the pinhole surgeon gains access to the different body parts through the arteries and delivers the treatment directly at the site.
The greatest advantage of this is that there is no bleeding,no cuts,very less pain,no surgical scars,speedy recovery and most imporatantly the infection rate is very less as the internal body parts are not exposed to the environment.

We at Globe Health Tours help people gain the best service at the best hospitals and make sure they are treated with the latest techniques in the industry.

while the press reminds us all of the risks, Michael Owen’s choice to travel to Germany for treatment is another example of how medical tourism is driven by a wide range of reasons, not always associated with cost and price.

Simply, Owen thought that treatment at a specialist clinic in Germany was better than anything offered in the UK! I wonder whether his doctors in the UK will still continue to treat him!! Treatment Abroad has a good article on it.

while the press reminds us all of the risks, Michael Owen’s choice to travel to Germany for treatment is another example of how medical tourism is driven by a wide range of reasons, not always associated with cost and price.

Simply, Owen thought that treatment at a specialist clinic in Germany was better than anything offered in the UK! I wonder whether his doctors in the UK will still continue to treat him!! Treatment Abroad has a good article on it.

Being in your 20s means being full of energy and vigour. You are at the peak of your life and your priorities are looking good and feeling great. Remember to visit your dentist or doctor for regular checkups. Understand your body better and get ready for an exciting life ahead.

We at Globe Health Tours, give special packages for exciting age groups of 20’s., from giving a beautiful smile and to stay beautiful inside and out, and for total relaxation with a comprehensive range of face, body and skin treatments.

Contact us and celebrate life !

When your loved one falls sick, you would certainly want to ensure that he or she receives the very best care and treatments, and that whatever else needed for recovery is done quickly and smoothly, without having to wait months between appointments with the doctors or for tests to be scheduled.

This is where WE make a difference.

• Immediate access to specialists for best clinical outcomes.
• Personalised care from the time of the enquiry till you reach the hospital and back home to lead a healthy life.
• Conference calls between the patients and the specialists.
• Guidance through the complete process from flights, Visa, receiving medical records and giving them a treatment plan and arranging airport transfer, and accomodations, and also tourism package.

No waiting lists, no high costs, no risks, and treated by world renowned surgeons, with world class facilities.

Visit us, and feel the difference !

Welcome to Healthy Living !