- Many people from the developed world come to India for
the rejuvenation promised by yoga and ayurvedic massage, but few consider
it a destination for hip replacements or brain surgery.
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- Yet that's exactly what the government in the Indian
state of Maharashtra hopes will happen soon.
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- Together with the state's business sector and private
health-care providers it recently launched the Medical Tourism Council
(MTC) of Maharashtra.
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- Its aim: to make India a prime destination for medical
tourists.
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- At its swish offices in central Bombay, also known as
Mumbai, members of the council explain the concept.
-
- Bombay, they argue, has private hospitals on a par with
the best in the world.
-
- Many of the surgeons at hospitals such as the Hinduja
are leaders in their field, working with the best equipment available.
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- But they can provide their expertise at a fraction of
the price that comparable surgery would cost in Europe or the United States.
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- Integrated package
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- GS Gill is principle secretary at the state's health
department and is convinced the council has found a winning formula.
-
- "You get a quick procedure in a good quality environment
at a lower cost", he says. "It's an ideal combination."
-
- Walking in from the frenetic streets of Bombay, the Hinduja
hospital is certainly a surprise.
-
- Its spotless corridors and state-of-the-art equipment
could be those of the best hospitals in London or New York.
-
- But the major difference between the Hinduja and hospitals
in the West is invisible: the cost.
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- The brochure produced by the MTC has a table listing
the comparable costs of procedure.
-
- It says, for example, that the average price of private
heart surgery in the West is $50,000.
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- In Bombay it can be done for $10,000.
-
- The same ratio applies to joint replacement, neurosurgery
and cancer treatment.
-
- The council plans to provide fixed-price treatment packages
to foreign patients, integrating all their transport, medical and living
costs into one price.
-
- It will also use the state's more conventional tourist
attractions.
-
- One of the slogans being considered is "open your
new eyes on the beach of Juhu" - a reference to the five-star Arabian
Sea resort 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of central Bombay.
-
- Who are the winners?
-
- Initially the MTC plans to woo foreign patients who pay
for private health-care in their own countries.
-
- But it also plans to work with state-run systems.
-
- For instance, Anapum Verma, the council's honorary secretary,
believes Britain has a "huge potential" for medical tourism owing
to its long waiting lists for surgery.
-
- He has already had exploratory conversations with some
British National Health Service managers about the possibility of sending
patients to India.
-
- For the MTC, its plans are the next chapter in globalisation
and the outsourcing of work to India.
-
- As Sanjay Agarwala, the Hinduja's chief neurosurgeon,
says: "Wherever you can offer better services at a more competitive
price, that is the place that is going to win in the end."
-
- But others question who the winners will really be.
-
- Dr Rama Baru is a health academic in Delhi.
-
- She believes that the marriage between the interests
of Western medical tourists and a handful of private hospitals is at "a
very superficial level as far as the medical care industry in India is
concerned".
-
- Contrary to the claims of the council, Dr Baru believes
there will be no trickle down of money to the impoverished public health
system, which currently receives just 0.9% of India's gross domestic product.
-
- The MTC's plans may well benefit the doctors and patients
involved, but it is currently unclear how a country that still suffers
from malaria and TB will reap the rewards of a new wave of medical tourists
coming to India.
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3467105.stm
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