Health Tourism News

Heart-valve replacement surgery in USA - $200,000
Heart-valve replacement surgery in India - $10,000
Dental bridge in USA - $5,500
Dental bridge in India - $500

The numbers speak for themselves. Little wonder that over 50,000 Americans traveled to countries like India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand for medical treatment in 2006. But when it comes to your body, cost isn’t the only deciding factor…quality is the main rider. So, is the quality of care in these developing nations on par with hospitals in USA and UK?

The answer gladly is a big YES. Hospitals that cater to the medical tourists from the western countries are among the best in the world in terms of infrastructure and medical care. They are on par with their western counterparts in terms of technology. Take the case of Apollo Hospitals in India. They have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the American International Medical University (AIMU) for developing a super specialty teaching hospital, research, and treatment facility for the AIMU group. Apollo will develop, manage, and monitor the healthcare facilities at the existing AIMU group’s medical education facilities at the Bahamas and St Lucia campuses. That’s how far ahead a hospital in India is, when it comes to technology and trained manpower. Moreover, most of these bodies have earned accreditation from universally acknowledged bodies, meaning international standards of quality in healthcare.

Doctors in these countries are as qualified and as skilled as their western counterparts. This is because a majority of doctors working in these hospitals have been trained in hospitals in USA and UK or have done their higher studies in these countries. For example, Bangkok’s Bumrungrad hospital has more than 200 surgeons who are board-certified in the United States. The Escorts Heart Institute and Research Center in India, performs nearly 15,000 heart operations every year. The death rate among patients during surgery is only 0.8 percent–less than half that of most major hospitals in the United States.

The number of registered nurses in these countries is far greater than in USA. And some hospitals even offer a 24/7 nurse-on-call for each individual patient. So, the care you get is much better than what you might expect in an American hospital.