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Abstract
The citizens of many countries have long traveled to the United States and to the developed countries of Europe to seek the expertise and advanced technology available in leading medical centers. In the recent past, a trend known as medical tourism has emerged wherein citizens of highly developed countries choose to bypass care offered in their own communities and travel to less developed areas of the world to receive a wide variety of medical services. Medical tourism is becoming increasingly popular, and it is projected that as many as 750,000 Americans will seek offshore medical care in 2011. This phenomenon is driven by marketplace forces and occurs outside of the view and control of the organized healthcare system. Medical tourism presents important concerns and challenges as well as potential opportunities. This trend will have increasing impact on the healthcare landscape in industrialized and developing countries around the world and this has an increasing medical tourism towards india.
Introduction
Medical tourism has captured the interest of the media. Articles, guidebooks, and broadcasts on medical tourism are being published and produced with increasing frequency. A Google Internet search using the term medical tourism performed on July 29, 2007, returned 1,100,000 results an increase of 300,000 in the preceding 62 days. Individual practitioners and medical organizations must be able to provide accurate information about this rapidly evolving trend. There is a compelling need for all parties involved in healthcare to become familiar with medical tourism and to understand the economic, social, political, and medical forces that are driving and shaping this phenomenon. In medical tourism, citizens of highly developed nations bypass services offered in their own communities and travel to less developed areas of the world for medical care. Medical tourism is fundamentally different from the traditional model of international medical travel where patients generally journey from less developed nations to major medical centers in highly developed countries for medical treatment that is unavailable in their own communities. The term medical tourism does not accurately reflect the reality of the patient's situation or the advanced medical care provided in these destinations. Nevertheless, this phrase has come into general usage and it provides an unambiguous way of differentiating the recent phenomenon of medical tourism from the traditional model of international medical travel.
Table 1
Procedure United States ($) Heart bypass 130000 Heart valve 160000 replacement Angioplasty 57000 Hip replacement 43000 Hysterectomy 20000 Knee replacement 40000 Spinal fusion 62000 Source: AMA, June 2007
Cost Comparison between US, UK and India: Procedure Open Heart Surgery (CABG) Total Knee Replacement Hip Resurfacing LA Hysterectomy Lap Cholcystectomy Spinal Decompression Fusion Obesity Surgery (Gastric Bypass) Source: Wockhardt Hospitals USA ($) 100000 48000 55000 22000 18000 60000 65000 UK ($) 43000 52000 48000 24000 20000 65000 70000 India ($) 7500 6300 7000 4000 3000 5500 9500
Cosmetic Surgery (Costs in US$) Procedure United States ($) Face-lift 20000 Breast 10000 Augmentation Breast Reduction 10000 Eyelid Surgery 7000 Liposuction 10000 Nose Surgery 7300 Tummy Tuck 8500 Thailand ($) 4800 3150 3900 1400 2100 3850 4050 Singapore ($) 6250 8000 8000 3750 5000 4400 6250 India ($) 3100 2200 3000 2200 2500 1800 3400
Procedure Heart Bypass Heart Valve Replacement Angioplasty Hip Replacement Hysterectomy Knee Replacement Spinal Fusion
US Cost India
$130,000 $10,000 $11,000 $160,000 $9,000 $57,000 $43,000 $20,000 $40,000 $62,000 $10,000
$11,000 $13,000 $9,000 $3,000 $8,500 $5,500 $12,000 $4,500 $10,000 $7,000
inadequate coverage. Milstein and Smith describe these patients as middle-income Americans evading impoverishment by expensive, medically necessary operations. The other group pursuing medical tourism are people seeking cosmetic surgery, dental reconstruction, fertility treatment, gender reassignment procedures, and other treatments not covered by health insurance. The common feature in both groups is that their resources are adequate to purchase healthcare in low-cost medical tourism destinations but insufficient for them to comfortably have the same services in their local market. For patients from countries where a governmental healthcare system controls access to services, the major reason to choose offshore medical care is to circumvent delays associated with long waiting lists. National health programs do not typically pay for cosmetic surgery and similar type services; therefore, patients from Canada and the United Kingdom desiring these procedures pursue medical tourism for the same economic reasons as those from the United States. Patients also travel to offshore medical destinations to have procedures that are not widely available in their own countries. For example, stem cell therapy for any one of a number of problems may be unavailable or restricted in industrialized countries but may be much more available in the medical tourism marketplace. Some patients, particularly those undergoing plastic surgery, sex change procedures, and drug rehabilitation, choose to go to medical tourism destinations because they are more confident that their privacy and confidentiality will be protected in a faraway setting. Finally, some patients have medical care abroad for the opportunity to travel to exotic locations and vacation in affordable luxurious surroundings. Although medical tourism agents and travel professionals may promote the tourism aspect of offshore care, the recreational value of travel has decreasing importance to patients with complex, serious medical problems. The primary reason that medical centers in developing countries are able to provide healthcare services inexpensively is directly related to the nation's economic status. Indeed, the prices charged for medical care in a destination country generally correlate with that nation's per capita gross domestic product, which is a proxy for income levels. Accordingly, the charges for healthcare services are appropriate for the level of economic development in which the services are provided. Low administrative and medicolegal expenses for overseas practitioners also contribute to the affordability of offshore medical care. For example, the professional liability insurance premium for a surgeon in India is 4% of that for a surgeon in New York. An important consideration in medical tourism is the potential impact on the residents of destination countries. Mattoo and Rathindran suggest that revenue generated by developing countries providing medical services to foreign patients creates opportunities to improve the access and quality of care available to the citizens of these countries. Bookman and Bookman emphasize that the government of destination countries must implement and enforce appropriate macroeconomic redistributive policies to ensure that the local residents of these nations actually realize the potential benefits of the medical tourism industry. Chinai and Goswami have expressed concerns that medical tourism may seriously undermine the care of local residents by adversely impacting workforce distribution.
by the Joint Commission International, which has accredited more than 125 facilities in 24 countries, and/or the International Organization of Standardization may provide a useful point of reference for patients selecting offshore medical facilities. Concerns have been voiced regarding the risk of complications resulting from travel and vacation activities in the postoperative period. The management of postoperative complications that occur after a patient returns from an offshore medical facility, and the consequent costs of this care, are difficult issues that remain unresolved.
Excellence in Mumbai, also have built capabilities and are handling a steadily increasing flow of foreign patients. India has much more expertise than say Thailand or Malaysia. The infrastructure in some of India's hospitals is also very good. What is more significant is that the costs are much less, almost one-third of those in other Asian countries. Medical tourism can be broadly defined as provision of 'cost effective' private medical care in collaboration with the tourism industry for patients needing surgical and other forms of specialized treatment. This process is being facilitated by the corporate sector involved in medical care as well as the tourism industry - both private and public. Medical or Health tourism has become a common form of vacationing, and covers a broad spectrum of medical services. It mixes leisure, fun and relaxation together with wellness and healthcare. The idea of the health holiday is to offer you an opportunity to get away from your daily routine and come into a different relaxing surrounding. Here you can enjoy being close to the beach and the mountains. At the same time you are able to receive an orientation that will help you improve your life in terms of your health and general well being. It is like rejuvenation and clean up process on all levels - physical, mental and emotional. 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 replacement or brain surgery. However, a nice blend of top-class medical expertise at attractive prices is helping a growing number of Indian corporate hospitals lure foreign patients, including from developed nations such as the UK and the US. As more and more patients from Europe, the US and other affluent nations with high medicare costs look for effective options, India is pitted against Thailand, Singapore and some other Asian countries, which have good hospitals, salubrious climate and tourist destinations. While Thailand and Singapore with their advanced medical facilities and built-in medical tourism options have been drawing foreign patients of the order of a couple of lakhs per annum, the rapidly expanding Indian corporate hospital sector has been able to get a few thousands for treatment. But, things are going to change drastically in favour of India, especially in view of the high quality expertise of medical professionals, backed by the fast improving equipment and nursing facilities, and above all, the cost-effectiveness of the package. As Indian corporate hospitals are on par, if not better than the best hospitals in Thailand, Singapore, etc there is scope for improvement, and the country may become a preferred medical destination. In addition to the increasingly top class medical care, a big draw for foreign patients is also the very minimal or hardly any waitlist as is common in European or American hospitals. In fact, priority treatment is provided today in Indian hospitals The Apollo Group, Escorts Hospitals in New Delhi and Jaslok Hospitals in Mumbai are to name a few which are established names even abroad. A list of corporate hospitals such as Global Hospitals, CARE and Dr L.V. Prasad Eye Hospitals in Hyderabad, The Hindujas and NM Excellence in Mumbai, also have built capabilities and are handling a steadily increasing flow of
foreign patients. India has much more expertise than say Thailand or Malaysia. The infrastructure in some of India's hospitals is also very good. What is more significant is that the costs are much less, almost one-third of those in other Asian countries.