Top-class Indian doctors, a mix of good customer services, increase in private healthcare spending and nursing care and treatment cost almost one-sixth of that in developed countries, the Indian corporate hospitals are witnessing an emerging trend!

If a by-pass heart surgery costs 40,000$ - 50,000$ in the U.S., few Indian hospitals such as the KRISHNA Heart & Super Specialty Institute in Ahmedabad have the wherewithal to do it in around 5000 dollars. Similarly if a joint replacement surgery costs 30,000$ in U.S., the same would be done by corporate hospitals in Ahmedabad at a roughly 6500$ dollars.

India, especially Ahmedabad is the most touted healthcare destination for countries like South-East Asia, Middle East, U.K., U.S., Africa and Tanzania. And the most sought-after specialties are cardiology, joint replacement, astroenterology, plastic, cosmetic and laproscopic surgeries.

"There are around 3.5 lakh people waiting for treatment under the National Health scheme of U.K. The lower level workers abroad are not covered by insurance. Countries like Tanzania do not have good medical expertise and nursing care. All of this has led to Ahmedabad contributing greatly to the medical tourism pie in the country," says Dr.Animish Choksi, Joint MD, KRISHNA Heart Institute, Ahmedabad. Expanding into Cardiology, Orthopedic Surgery, Laparoscopic and Gastroenterology, Plastic Surgery, Cancer Surgery, Neuro Surgery, the Insitute comprises of 15% - 20% of NRI occupancy every month.

Low costs and prompt email communication convinced Gary Konkol, to travel from Wisconsin to Ahmedabad for hip replacement therapy at Krishna. "A hip replacement surgery requires a lot of assurance for me to come to India and the treatment would have costed me six times more in
U.S.," says Konkol. More than costs, Konkol feels the efficient nursing standards of Indian hospitals are better than most of the U.S. hospitals. Hansaben Patani, who underwent a knee replacement surgery at Krishna from Tanzania, feels it was lack of good medical expertise that pushed her to come to India. Which explains, what more can be done for importance of accreditation in medical tourism?

"Right from airport pick-up, providing wheelchair, relieving the patient from anxiety regarding cleanliness, nursing care, transparency in business transactions, adding value to customer satisfaction is very important. So it is more about ?medical value tourism? than medical tourism
only," Dr. Choksi concludes.

Story credit: Tanvi Trivedi
Times of India