Convalescence on the Beach..."Medical Tourism " ,

There are, today , about 45 million people in the US who will have a problem if the fall sick. And certainly , more than a problem if it looks like they would need surgery. These 45 million people do not have health insurance.

Today , the health insurance premiums have risen to such levels, that according to the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates , an American family health coverage currently costs about $11,500 a year, with workers spending nearly $3,000 out of their own pockets annually.

In the UK and Canada, there are waiting lists for various types of surgeries, and you need to get in line with everyone else. Something that needs to be surgically handled right now, will, probably, get scheduled , sometime in the next year or so.

Today, a lot of people from the US, UK and Canada are looking overseas , for possible answers to their medical and surgical problems. There are enough people ringing alarm bells , perhaps in the Katherine Mayo tradition, trying to frighten people , and warn people about their impending foray into the , well, "jungles". A lot of industry Unions, occasioanlly take a stand, forced by local protectionist tendencies, and dissuade an employer from including overseas medical treatment for the employees. People who have never been within 1000 miles of their homes, suddenly become experts on three continents.

But that's natural. Every new idea has had its share of opponents, some well informed , some ill informed.

Today, the Chicago-based Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which accredits American hospitals, has accredited roughly 100 foreign hospitals, including Bumrungrad Hospital in Thailand, five hospitals in India and 11 in Singapore.

What is really attractive to most people is the fact, that the same surgery is available at these hospitals, for a fraction of the cost, and that often includes, for the patient and accompanying person, air fare, transport, a 5 star facility /stay at the hospital in question, and very often, a recuperation at some resort nearby, and sometimes, if possible, even a visit to the Taj Mahal before returning home....

In addition, what is very appealing is the fact that the lenghth of your stay in the hospital, is decided solely by your attending surgeon, and physician, and you. There is no insurance company pressure to vacate the bed, and you are not sent home before the stitches are dry, idiomatically speaking.

A friend from the UK, was pregnant and preferred to stay in New Delhi, and deliver, instead of returning home. She was so glad she did. She was attended to by very capable doctors, had a uneventful delvery; what she really liked, was that she could stay on in hospital much longer than she would have in the UK. There was enough staff to respond to her calls promptly, everytime she pressed the bell at her bedside, the nurses looked after her baby excellently , while she rested; the food was wonderful, varied and nutritious, and she went home, happy and rested after a comfortable stay in the hopspital. This, according to her was completely impossible at home. Chances are, after a natural delivery , she would have been sent home the same , or at the most the next day, to clear the bed for the next person in line.

Oklahoma's Dodie Gilmore, 60 became one of the first Americans to be sent overseas for surgery by her employer. Gilmore needed hip surgery, but found that the procedure would cost up to $40,000 if performed in the United States, which her privately purchased health plan was not likely to cover.

Gilmore researched overseas hospitals, and found that the Max Super Specialty Hospital in India would charge just $7,000 for the procedure. Gilmore's boss offered to foot the bill, which totaled $12,000, including hotel and airfare.

Howard Staab, a 59 year old carpenter from Durham, N.C., found some time in 2004, that he needed to have heart surgery that would cost him $200,000; and he had NO health insurance. Staab did some research and decided to go overseas. He flew 7500 miles to New Delhi, the Indian capital, where doctors at the Escorts Heart Institute and research center, performed a valve replacement surgery on his baulky heart. There was no waiting list. And the total cost came to $10000. That included airfare, world class facilities at the hospital, surgery by doctors who had trained in the US, and even a side trip to see the Taj Mahal with his partner.

India offers a growing number of private "centers of excellence" where the quality of care is as good or better than that of big-city hospitals in the United States or Europe, according to Dr. Naresh Trehan, a self-assured cardiovascular surgeon who runs Escorts and performed the operation on Staab. What is interesting is that costs are lower because of relatively lower payscales in India for service staff, and also lower malprcatice insurance premiums for doctors. There is more volume of work. A New York heart surgeon pays $100,000 a year in malpractice insurance. In India, it amounts to $4,000.

Tom Raudaschl, is a mountain guide , originally from Austria, but now working in Canada, as one. He started having osteoarthritis problems in his hips, and this just about threatened to end his livelihood. Canada's health care system, would offer him a chance at hip-surgery, only after 3 years, as per their schedules. Hip resurfacing, the procedure he needed, he found out would cost $21,000 in the US.

Tom flew from Calgary in Canada, to Chennai on Inida's east coast, and had the surgery done at one of the leading hospitals there, the Apollo Hospital. The cost ? $5000, and that included all the hospital costs. They picked him up at the airport, did all his hotel bookings (for the accompanying person, and even for later), and his hospital private room was equipeed with Internet service, a microwave, and a refrigerator. The staff on call, nurses, orderlies etc, was extremely prompt . His surgery went well, and Tom was happy to hear from the surgeon, that he was doing so fine , healing, that he could start thinking of skiing in a month or so!

Today, the first reaction of folks (when they hear about someone going to India for surgery) is a frown. Its understandable. The east hs always been considered mysterious, and the average American today, is not terribly well informed on how the world outide of the US and Europe has changed.

Today, majority of the doctors staffing the UK National Health Service are Indians, and there is possibly, no hospital in the US that does not have an Indian doctor on its staff. Thanks to India's booming economy , a lot of doctors are returning to work at state of the art hospitals in the metro cities.

Actually, the countries of the Middle East have been sending their patients to India for many many years. They feel more comfortable about the food, and the ethos, and the excellent rapport they build with their medical caretakers. In my chldhood, a walk along Mumbai's downtown seaside promenade , the Marine Drive, would see a bunch of Arabs with their wives and children, in tradiional dress, taking a walk, enjoying a calm post operative sojourn , possibly for a few weeks, before flying off to conduct a few more important oil deals back home.

Recently , Noor, a little baby girl from Pakistan, was operated for a heart problem at the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, on India's east coast. India and Pakistan have had several wars, terrorists (trained in Pakistan) have run amuck killing hundreds of innocent people in India, This did not deterr little Noor's family from corresponding with the Indian doctors , and organizing themselves to coming to Chennai, neither did it hamper the Indian doctors' wish to do their best for the little girl. The people of Chennai , all strangers, dropped by to see if Noor or her parents needed anything, and came by with food, toys, prayers, or just to give the parents company. Today Noor is back in Pakistam, a healthy child, and this has opened up an avenue for lots of little children having medical problems who can come to India, provided , of course, the Governments dont put a spanner into the whole thing. Governments know how to mess around , but ordinary people have shown what needs to be done, on a people to people basis across countries.

Employers in Western countries, are aware , that there are savings to be realised in getting medical care like this, and sometimes the savings are shared with the employee , who agrees to get, say,a surgery etc done overseas.

Thailand, Singapore and India have now become choice locations for medical outsourcing.

At the end of the day, when did you last spend your post surgical convalescence, relaxing at the beach, watching a blazing sun, setting behind a confluence of 3 oceans, sipping tender coconut water, straight out of the coconut, with your dear one beside you, and NOT a huge hole burned in your pocket ?

There are several companies that act as facilitators for those wishing to avail themselves of this "medical tourism " facility.

With heart surgery costing $6000 is India versus $30,000 in the US, bone marrow transplant costing $26,000 in India compared to $250,000 in the US, easier communication and transport, time has really come to start thinking of a Global Village, where everyone is able to get the best medcal care, within their means.