Welcome, high-end patients (Medical Tourism in India)

From the link:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/248/20100427/1611/tls-welcome-high-end-patients.html

When James Michael, 35, began trawling the Internet for an affordable option to US health care, the prompt response from Fortis Healthcare in Bangalore to his enquiries about cervical disc replacement surgery brought him to the hospital recently. Thousands of foreigners are choosing Indian hospitals for complex procedures, not just dental or cosmetic work as was the case when medical tourism started. "Today, India is getting travellers from around 35 countries as against mainly from neighbouring countries and West Asia five years ago," says Vishal Bali, CEO, Fortis Healthcare.

Fortis alone treats close to 2,000 American patients a year now between its Mumbai and Bangalore hospitals, or ten times the Americans it handled in 2005. Both Fortis hospitals are accredited to the JCI or the Joint Commission International, a nonprofit US body that sets standards.

Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals, an early starter in medical tourism (the current term is 'medical value travel'), says that, five years ago, 80 per cent of the 'foreign' patients came from South Asia. "Today, it is down to 30 per cent with more patients coming in from a wide range of countries," says Reddy.

And it is not just the chains. Take HealthCare Global, a Bangalore-based cancer specialist. "Today, six per cent of our total patients come from abroad and this number is growing at 20 per cent per annum with patients mainly from Africa, Bangladesh, West Asia, Canada and some European countries like Norway and The Netherlands," says Dr B.S. Ajai Kumar, Chairman & CEO, HealthCare Global.

On the second day of his admission, doctors operated on Michael to replace a disc - a cushion between two bones - in the neck region with an artificial one.
Reddy says 300,000-odd medical tourists visited India last year, of which more than half are estimated to have headed into wellness centres promoted by locations like Kerala. But there is a clear trend among the rest towards tertiary care.

That a patient with a serious health problem is willing to take a 24-hour flight for treatment indicates a coming of age for the sector, which has been investing in facilities and techniques.
Dr G.S. Rao, Managing Director, Yashoda Group of Hospitals, which has units in Hyderabad and Secunderabad and is the first in South Asia to offer rapid arc radiation therapy, cites another factor attracting longdistance patients. "We have seen a perceptible increase in patients inflows with the new international airport coming up in Hyderabad," he says.

When Michael and his wife finally checked out of Fortis, the bill was $15,000, including a week's stay in a five-star-like facility, against the US rate of $30,000-40,000.
The cost differential is a major attraction. A cardiac bypass procedure, for instance, would cost around $8,500 in India, including stay for one companion in a single room. The US cost: around $100,000. On an average, treatment costs here are 10-20 per cent of US levels.
Medical value travel is worth $700 million now. "India accounts for no more than 1.2 per cent of the global market by value," says M. Muralidharan Nair, Partner, Business Advisory Services Practice, Ernst & Young (E&Y). Despite the growth potential, he says, the market size in 2012 will be much below $1.5-2.2 billion projected by some studies.

The number of international patients coming to India has grown at more than 24 per cent each year since 2002 and over half a million are expected to have visited by the end of last year. India apparently is also gaining from a transformation in this space globally.
"Medical tourism has transitioned from a cottage industry to an acceptable alternative for elective care that's safe and cost-effective, if coordinated by reputable health plans and providers," says Paul H. Keckley, Executive Director, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, in its 2009 report Medical Tourism: Update & Implications.

Indian hospital chains are not waiting for patients to turn up: Some, like Fortis, Apollo and HealthCare Global are setting up outposts abroad to catch the tide. Recently, Fortis acquired a strategic stake in Singaporebased Parkway Holdings. Malvinder Mohan Singh, Fortis Chairman, told BT: "Singapore is an international medical hub and international patients are an important component for Parkway. Now we could attract patients into our network to service them out of Singapore, Malaysia (where Parkway also has a strong presence) and India."
After checking out, Michael took an autorickshaw to some shopping areas in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley. It was a smooth ride.

Not so for the hospitals. Matching the West's expertise or equipment is not a problem, but the bugs are vexing. Take insurance. If an American tourist in India on vacation or work has a heart attack and undergoes an emergency procedure, the tourist's insurer picks up the tab. But the same insurer will not pay for elective surgery here.

Then, India has very few JCI-accredited hospitals—just over a dozen. India also needs a deeper pool of highly-skilled manpower attuned to diverse cultures. There is more to it than just providing an American with an Internet connection, an European a diet brief or an Arab a prayer room.

Attracting the best
India gets patients from around 35 countries today; five years ago, most were from neighbouring countries and West Asia.
Foreign patients now taking 24-hour flights to India to seek treatment for life-threatening conditions. Earlier, it was for cosmetic surgery.
Healthcare players are investing in the latest technologies, conducting beating heart surgeries and using robotics.
Some international healthcare insurance entities have started offering options to cover elective procedures in India.

But the potential for getting more patients from the West is huge: Nair of E&Y points out that over half the medical tourists now still are from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria, and India has been able to attract only 12 per cent of the medical travellers from the US, UK and West Asia, who account for a quarter of global medical travellers.

Prescription for Growth
Speedier grant of medical visa, even visa on arrival.
Better linkages between healthcare and tourism.
Better airports and roads, not just in pockets but at all locations. More hospitals accredited to the JCI.

Reproduced From Business Today.