Chicago Tribune Examines India As Destination For Medical Tourism

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 01 Apr 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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The Chicago Tribune on Friday examined how India is "fast becoming the destination of choice for patients seeking complicated high-end procedures" they cannot afford or cannot schedule with a U.S. physician they trust. In 2007, 150,000 patients traveled to India from the U.S., Britain, Africa and elsewhere in South Asia for a medical procedure.

According to the Tribune, India offers a "trio of advantages": highly trained English-speaking doctors, quick appointments and low prices. According to the American Medical Association, a heart bypass surgery costs $130,000 in the U.S., compared with $10,000 in India, and a hip replacement in the U.S. costs $43,000, compared with $9,000 in India. Some major U.S. employers currently are researching the costs of sending employees to other nations to undergo elective surgeries, and several large health insurers cover treatments in Mexico and Thailand, according to AMA.

However, according to the Tribune, traveling to India for health care is "not without its problems," including weaker medical malpractice laws; a 15-hour flight that could be "difficult ... for anyone with a serious medical problem"; and the potential hardship of finding a U.S. doctor for after-surgery care. However, India is "working hard to make traveling for surgery as appealing as possible for foreigners," the Tribune reports (Goering, Chicago Tribune, 3/28).

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