Reasons for Medical Tourism 5

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.

Unhappiness & Heart Disease

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

A leading Hospital in Chennai-India performs Pinhole Surgery

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.

Michael Owen, England Footballer, Medical Tourist

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.