US Medical Tourism in India
The fear of becoming ill in a foreign country is a common nightmare among international travelers. Yet, for a great many travelers – known as medical tourists, the appeal of combining affordable medical care, attentive room service and an exotic location is exactly what leads them to pack their suitcases and board a plane.
High Quality Health Care in a Foreign Country
Marvin Cetron, founder and president of Forecasting International, published author and tourism expert states that the hospitals and clinics that cater to the tourist market often are among the best in the world and many are staffed by physicians trained at major medical centers in the United States and Europe.
These hospitals can boast about their results. In fact, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Center in Delhi and Faridabad, India provides more than 14,000 heart surgeries each year with the patient death rate during surgery as low as .8 percent – less than half that of most of the major hospitals in the United States.
India to be Top Choice for USA Medical Tourists
In addition, more and more of the hospitals in India are receiving the US Joint Commission International accreditation. As a result, India has positioned itself to be the first choice among USA medical tourists seeking necessary complex medical procedures.
The excellent facilities in India provide USA medical tourists with treatment for open-heart surgery, pediatric heart surgery, hip and knee replacement, cosmetic surgery, dentistry, bone marrow transplants and cancer therapy. In addition, nearly all of the clinics in India are equipped with the latest electronic and medical diagnostic equipment.
India’s Standard of Medical Excellence
India, unlike many of its competitors in the medical tourism industry, is technologically sophisticated and has the infrastructure necessary to provide high quality medical treatment. In addition, India requires that its pharmaceuticals meet the stringent requirements of the US Food and Drug Administration.
Cetron notes that US medical tourists receive treatment in India that is up to American standards, and that some Indian medical centers provide services not commonly found in other medical settings. For example, hip surgery patients in India may choose a hip resurfacing procedure instead, in which damaged bone is removed and replaced with chrome alloy. This type of operation is less costly and causes less post-operative trauma than the traditional replacement procedure performed in the United States.
Trends Point to Growth for Medical Tourism
By 2015 the Baby Boomer generation, which numbers more than 220 million people worldwide, is expected to begin its final decline and this is a trend that all but guarantees that the medical tourism industry will continue to grow.
In the United States, medical tourism will be especially attractive to the approximately 43 million people without health insurance and the 120 million without dental coverage. Although these numbers are astounding, they are expected to increase in the coming years.
Europe’s Medical Tourists
Americans are not the only ones seeking elective and necessary medical treatments abroad. Even though officials within the EU stress that “medical tourism should not be actively encouraged”, many Europeans are taking advantage of the benefits of the medical tourism industry by receiving treatment in India and elsewhere.
Patients in Britain especially, where the health care system is so bogged down that there are long waiting lists for major surgery, are eager to take advantage of the services they can receive in India and other countries within one day of their arrival.
Whether seeking to reduce costs or to increase choices, medical tourists have many good reasons to search for care beyond the United States.
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