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One could
well be forgiven for momentarily confusing Spencer Plaza,
Chennai, with a Dubai shopping mall. Arabs pour in and out of
trendy showrooms, laden with bags full of branded clothes,
footwear and cosmetics. Having satiated their shopping
instincts, many head back, not to a hotel, but to a hospital,
and to ailing relatives. For these are tourists with a
difference, attracted to India for its cutting-edge medical
expertise more than its charms.
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| FROM AFGHANISTAN TO DELHI:
Haje Abdul Aha Khan (right) is one of those very few
who trundle across the war-torn country for quality
medical care. Khan came to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital,
Delhi, for oncology treatment. |
It is a scenario being replicated across India. Sensing
that healthcare plus tourism adds to big opportunities,
corporate hospitals, in cooperation with tour operators, are
promoting India as a healthcare destination from the Middle
East to the Far East. "International standard medical service
at affordable prices" has been highlighted as the selling
point. Packages have been designed to include something for
everyone- while patients recuperate in the hospital, their
relatives enjoy the sights and shops. Hospitals like the
Apollo Group have opened information centres in key foreign
countries to attract medical tourists. Plus, most hospitals
have put up detailed information on the Internet. Recently a
CII delegation, led by heart surgeon Naresh Trehan of Escorts
Heart Institute, Delhi, went to the UK to discuss such
possibilities.
It is patients like British pensioner James Campbell, 68,
that they hope to attract. Living in agony because of
osteo-arthrititis of both knees, he was told that he would
have to wait for three years for an operation in the UK. He
opted to come to India, to be operated upon by Ahmedabad-based
surgeon Vikram Shah. Campbell saved £12,000 in the
process.
The figures support their optimism. The Rs 1,500-crore
sector is growing at 30 per cent annually. Recent CII-McKinsey
studies show that healthcare tourism alone can contribute Rs
10,000 crore as additional revenue for corporate hospitals.
And it is not Ayurveda, yoga and alternative
medicine-traditional Indian strengths-but the expertise of
Indian doctors in modern medicine from heart surgery to
phakonit cataract removal that has put India on the world
healthcare map. The country attracts about one lakh patients
from abroad every year.
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HEALTHY BUDGET |
| HEART SURGERY: Costs $30,000 (Rs
14.4 lakh) in the US. But Indian hospitals charge Rs 4
lakh.
ORTHOPAEDIC
SURGERY: In the West, the expense comes to $20,000
(Rs 9.6 lakh). The package in India costs one third of
that amount.
CATARACT
OPERATIONS: $20,000 is the price for surgery in the
US. In India, it comes to just $500.
LIVER
TRANSPLANT: The cost comes to a whopping $300,000
abroad while Indian super specialty hospitals perform
the operation for just
$45,000. |
Patients can recuperate with little fear of a strain on
their wallets. A heart surgery that costs $30,000 (Rs 14.4
lakh) in the US is possible in a leading Indian hospital for
$8,000 (Rs 3.84 lakh). A bone marrow transplant that costs
$250,000 and a liver transplant that costs $300,000 are
available at around $45,000 in India. While an orthopaedic
surgery costs $20,000 abroad, it is billed at less than a
third the amount in India. Indraprastha Apollo and Escorts
Heart Institute in Delhi, MIOT (Madras Institute of
Orthopaedics and Traumatology) in Chennai, Rabindranath Tagore
International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) in
Kolkata, Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai and Kerala Institute of
Medical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram are some of the
hospitals which have medical tourism high on their agenda.
The MIOT experiment could be a classic example of the
growth potential of medical tourism. From earning Rs 50 lakh
in foreign exchange in 2000-1, MIOT's billing of foreign
patients grew to Rs 6.8 crore in 2002-3. The hospital has
earned Rs 4 crore in the past five months. Last year, MIOT
treated 763 patients of whom 497 were from Arab countries.
Escorts gets an average of 1,000 patients a year from
countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and
Greece. "Our focus is on foreign patients. This is just the
beginning and the potential this sector offers is enormous,"
says Dr. P.V.A. Mo- handas, MIOT's founder and a leading
orthopaedic surgeon. "We make foreign patients feel at home
here."
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| FROM UNITED KINGDOM TO
AHMEDABAD: James Campbell did not want to endure a
three-year-long wait for a knee-replacement surgery back
home. He was successfully operated upon on both his
knees by Dr Vikram Shah (right). |
The strategy followed by corporate hospitals-or the good
old Indian hospitality being extended to patients- clearly
makes good business sense. Right from the moment the patient
and his relatives land at the airport, the hospital takes care
of their needs, starting with a person from their own country
receiving them. "Speaking their language is good enough, but
having people from their country is vital," says Mohandas.
MIOT has hired people from Oman, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. It
also has special chefs for preparing Arabian, continental and
native food, all part of the package. A typical
knee-replacement surgery package comes for Rs 10 lakh and
includes accommodation, food and sightseeing. "If someone
wants to visit any place in India, we arrange for the tickets
and hotel facilities," says Galal Ahmed Dawod, a Sudanese
working as overseas marketing manager at MIOT. Apollo has
similar provisions.
S.K. Sama, chairman, Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi, says, "We
extend such hospitality to all our outstation patients, Indian
and foreign."
The concept is a huge draw. MIOT's dozen super deluxe rooms
are all occupied by Arab patients. The Apollo Group has had
more than 60,000 patients from 55 countries in the past five
years. According to Group President Prathap C. Reddy, the
annual health bill of people from Afro-Asian countries seeking
treatment outside their country is $10 billion. "If India can
tap even a fraction of that market, the potential is
enormous," he says.
Abu Dhabi-based Nanoora Rashid, whose cousin was treated at
MIOT, underlines the potential. "My company usually refers
patients to the US and Germany; India never figured on our
list. But after seeing the high standard of treatment at such
prices, I would recommend India to my bosses." Kerala,
meanwhile, is proudly flaunting its traditional strength in
Ayurveda besides projecting its modern medicine prowess to woo
foreign patients. "We are focusing on special health-cum-tour
packages to cater to a wide range of patients," says M.I.
Sahadulla, chairman of the new Rs 55-crore Kerala Institute of
Medical Sciences (KIMS), Thiruvananthapuram. KIMS, along with
its sister organisation Great India Tour Company (GITC),
offers "world-class medical holiday packages at almost one
third the cost (in the West)". KIMS is banking on its
advantage of having 200 NRIs among its promoters. In Kolkata,
about 1,000 Bangladeshis arrive every month to hospitals such
as RTIICS, AMRI Apollo, West Bank and Peerless.
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| FROM US TO MOHALI:
Brijinder Bassi (right), who was on a holiday in her
hometown, decided to stay back for high-class medical
attention when she was diagnosed with Type II
diabetes. |
In January this year, when the US-resident Brijinder Kaur
Bassi visited her native place in Punjab on her regular winter
sojourn, she felt uneasy about her health. Instead of rushing
back to Alaska, she opted for a medical check-up at Fortis, a
super-speciality hospital, in Mohali. She was diagnosed, to
her shock, with Type II diabetes, besides high cholesterol and
high blood pressure levels. She was hospitalised for three
days-and the entire treatment cost her just around $1,000. A
comparison is inevitable here-she would have shelled out at
least $5,000 in Alaska for the same treatment. But, apart from
the cost factor, what struck her the most was the "high
comfort level with the doctor and world-class standard of
medical care".
Says Bassi: "In the US, it is very difficult even to get
appointment with a medical consultant, but here I could
contact the doctor any time and even at odd hours. Even after
spending nearly 40 years in the US, I have more faith in the
healing touch of the Indian doctors." The 63-years-old has
since been in touch with her doctor-K.P. Singh, senior
consultant and endocrinologist. Last month, while on a
holidaying cruise from Rome to Spain, she and her husband, an
economist, took a break and landed in Mohali. The sole reason
for the visit was to get her medically examined again.
The case of Haje Abdul Aha Khan, an elderly Afghan citizen
who had come to Indraprashtha Apollo Hospital, Delhi, for
oncology treatment, is an indication that people from even
impoverished countries are trundling across the borders for
high-class treatment.
To capitalise on all these opportunities, a coordinated
strategy is required. Upgrading Indian hospitals to global
standards is necessary to attract the lucrative US market. But
Trehan sounds a caveat, "Our facilities are for Indians.
Patients here should not be deprived." Health opportunities
for foreign patients may lead to better standards at home.
-with Supriya Bezbaruah, Stephen David,
Sandeep Unnithan, Labonita Ghosh,
Ramesh Vinayak and M.G.
Radhakrishnan |
