[lit-ideas] Hospitals in India
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 16:43:33 EDT
(javascript:print();) Okay, this is the piece I was remembering. The first
part talks primarily about Thailand, but the latter part addresses the
hospitals in India. Btw, the pediatric cardiologist who did the procedure on
my
daughter's ASD (everyone here wanted to do open-heart surgery cutting her from
neck to pelvis; I researched and researched until I found this guy -- he
developed a device by which a patch is threaded up through an artery from the
groin into the "hole" in the heart, the patch is opened scissor-like, detached
from the catheter, and the patient is very very still for a few weeks as the
heart tissue grows around the patch. A permanent solution to the ASD.
Hospital stay of 2 days instead of 6 - 8 wks. in intensive care) was from
India --
he taught Docs at Cardinal Glennon's Children's Hospital how to perform and
monitor the results of the procedure and he has since moved to Wisconsin where
he is doing the same thing. Any reactions?
Julie Krueger (javascript:history.back();)
_http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/21/60minutes/main689998.shtml_
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/21/60minutes/main689998.shtml)
(http://www.cbsnews.com/)
____________________________________
Vacation, Adventure And Surgery?
Sept. 4, 2005
____________________________________
(CBS) This summer, millions headed out to foreign lands for vacation,
adventure, tourism, or just a beautiful beach.
But how about hip surgery or a multiple bypass or a facelift?
A growing number of tourists are doing just that, combining holidays with
health care, and that's because a growing number of countries are offering
first-rate medical care at Third-World prices. Many of these medical tourists
can't afford health care at home (the 40 million uninsured Americans, for
example). Others are going for procedures not covered by their insurance:
cosmetic
surgery or infertility treatment, for example.
And as Correspondent Bob Simon reported last spring, the hospitals in these
faraway countries are glad to have these medical tourists. In fact, they are
courting their business, trying to get more people to outsource their own
health care.
____________________________________
Thailand is an exotic vacation spot known for its Buddhas, its beaches, its
brothels, and the bustle of Bangkok.
But for people needing medical care, itâs known increasingly for Bumrungrad
Hospital, a luxurious place that claims to have more foreign patients than
any other hospital in the world. Itâs like a United Nations of patients
here,
and theyâre cared for by more than 500 doctors, most with international
training.
The hospital has state-of-the-art technology, and hereâs the clincher: the
price. Treatment here costs about one-eighth what it does in the United
States. It's the No. 1 international hospital in the world.
"Itâs sort of Ground Zero. I havenât heard anybody yet whoâs told us
that
they take more than 350,000 international patients a year," says Curt
Schroeder, CEO of Bumrungrad."Itâs sort of Ground Zero. I havenât heard
anybody yet
whoâs told us that they take more than 350,000 international patients a
year," says Curt Schroeder, CEO of Bumrungrad.<PGBR>One patient is Byron
Bonnewell, who lives 12
"They told me I was gonna die," says Bonnewell, who didn't have insurance.
He estimates he would have had to pay over $100,000 out of his own pocket
for the operation he needed, a complicated quintuple bypass. And he says he
actually decided not to do it: "I guess I figured I'd rather die with a little
bit of money in my pocket than live poor."
But Bonnewell says his health was deteriorating quickly, when he read about
Bumrungrad Hospital: "I was in my doctor's office one day having some tests
done, and there was a copy of Business Week magazine there. And there was an
article in Business Week magazine about Bumrungrad Hospital. And I came home
and went on the Internet and made an appointment, and away I went to
Thailand."
He made that appointment after he learned that the bypass would cost him
about $12,000. He chose his cardiologist, Dr. Chad Wanishawad, after reading
on
the hospitalâs Web site that he used to practice at the National Institutes
of Health in Maryland.
"Every doctor that I saw there has practiced in the United States," says
Bonnewell.
But three days after walking into the hospital, he was on the operating
table. Two weeks later, he was home.
How does he feel? "Wonderful. I wish Iâd found them sooner," says Bonnewell.
"Because I went through a year â I was in bad shape. I couldnât walk
across
the room."
How was the nursing? How was the treatment?
"I found it so strange in Thailand, because they were all registered nurses.
Being in a hospital in the United States, we see all kinds of orderlies, all
kinds of aides, maybe one RN on duty on the whole floor of the hospital,"
says Bonnewell. "In Thailand, I bet I had eight RNs just on my section of the
floor alone. First-class care."
Thatâs what the hospital prides itself on: its first-class medical care,
which it can offer so cheaply because everything is cheaper here, particularly
labor and malpractice insurance. You can get just about any kind of treatment,
from chemotherapy to plastic surgery.
<PGBR>Kim Atwater from Bend, Ore., was on vacation in Thailand when she
decided to combine sightseeing with a bit of an eye
Was she nervous about having an operation done in Thailand?
"Yes, yes, I was somewhat hesitant about having any type of operation in a
foreign country, and it turned out to be, I mean, it was beyond my
expectations," says Atwater.
And it was not beyond her budget: $1,500, and that included a private room.
How would she describe the difference between this place and an American
hospital? "It's much nicer than any that Iâve ever stayed in the United
States,"
says Atwater.
The rooms look more like hotel rooms than hospital rooms, and thatâs no
accident. The idea was to make the whole hospital look like a hotel and a
five-star hotel at that. There are boutiques and restaurants to suit every
taste and
nationality
"Part of the concept was to create an environment when people came in they
didnât feel like theyâre in a hospital," says Schroeder. "Because nobody
really wants to go to a hospital."
Bonnewell says he's going back this fall for another checkup. He'll have to
take a 22-hour flight, but thereâs even an upside to that.
"We do have a very unique relationship with Thai Airways," says Schroeder.
"So you can buy a ticket. You can use frequent flier mileage to get your
checkup."
Whatever it takes to get your business.
"And this is not the only hospital trying to outsource healthcare, is it?"
asks Simon.
"My goodness, no. I, we certainly have not gone unnoticed," says Schroeder.
"There are hospitals throughout Asia. There are hospitals throughout Asia,
throughout India." "My goodness, no. I, we certainly have not gone
unnoticed,"
says Schroeder. "There are hospitals tfamiliar images of the country
(teeming, dusty streets, and poverty) you can add gleaming new, private
hospitals.
The hospital boom in India was fueled by Indiaâs growing middle-class who
demanded access to quality health care. Now, the country known for exporting
doctors is trying hard to import patients.
The most important player is the Apollo Group, the largest hospital group in
India, and the third largest in the world.
Why is it so important to get foreign patients here?
"It makes sense to establish India as sort of a world destination for health
care," says Anjali Kapoor Bissell, director of Apolloâs International
Patient Office.
But why should foreigners come here? Well, itâs even cheaper than Thailand
for most procedures, with prices about 10 percent what they would be in the
United States.
Anne Bell works at the British High Commission in New Delhi. She just had a
baby and says sheâs glad she was here, and not in England: "Thereâs been
no
pressure to go home after the delivery. Weâve been welcomed to stay as long
as we want. Theyâre looking after the baby. Theyâre looking after me,
giving
me enough time to get settled and get confident enough to go back home. Often
in the UK, you might be out of the hospital within five hours if youâve had
a normal delivery."
And in the UK, she wouldnât have had a private room and a private bath. Not
to mention massages, and yoga, too. And the doctors? Indian doctors are known
worldwide, they speak English, and theyâre often the very same doctors you
may have had in Europe or America, where many of them practiced before
returning to India.
"Do you find that many Indian doctors are coming back now because of
hospitals such as this one?" asks Simon.
"Yes, a large number are coming back," says Bissell. "Because they have
something to come back to."
Dr. Praveen Khilnani, a pediatric intensive care specialist, worked at
several American Hospitals, including Mass General. Dr. Vikas Kohli is a
pediatric
cardiologist who worked at hospitals in New York and Miami.
Both need sophisticated equipment to care for their patients, something
India didnât have before the birth of private hospitals like Apollo. They
both
wanted to come back to India despite the fact that medical care costs much
less
here, partly because doctors make much less.
"How much less do you make here than in the United States?" asks Simon.
"Maybe a tenth or a twentieth of what we were making the U.S.," says
Khilnani.
They wanted to come back, they say, because they felt their expertise was
needed here in India much more than in America.
"There are probably 1,500 to 2,000 pediatric cardiologists in the U.S. I
would be one of them," says Kohli. "In India, there were just four of us. I
was
very passionate about working for Indian kids."
Since there are so many Indians who require the kind of care that only they
can offer, why is there such a strong drive to attract foreign patients?
"Who doesnât mind extra money flowing in?" says Kohli.
Stephanie Sedlmayr didnât want to spend the tens of thousands of dollars it
would take to get the hip surgery she needed. And she didnât have insurance,
either. So with her daughter by her side, she flew from Vero Beach, Fla., to
the Apollo Hospital in Chennai. Sheâd never been to India before, but she
already knew quite a bit about Indian doctors
"My doctor, actually, in Vero Beach, she's an Indian doctor. So, why not go
where they come from?" asks Sedlmayr, who says her friends questioned her
decision. "Hardly anybody said, 'Oh, great idea.'"
But she didnât just come here to save money; she came for an operation she
couldnât get at home. Itâs called hip resurfacing, and it has changed
peopleâ
s lives.
It hasnât been approved yet by the FDA, but in India, Dr. Vijay Bose has
performed over 300 of them. He showed 60 Minutes
the difference between a hip resurfacing and hip replacement, which is the
standard operation performed in the United States. He says his patients
usually recover faster because his procedure is far less radical and doesnât
involve cutting the thighbone.
Instead, Bose fits a metal cap over the end, which fits into a metal socket
in the hip. The result, he says, is that patients end up with enough mobility
to do virtually anything.
"So my patients, you know, play football, basketball, whatever you want. Not
a problem," says Bose.
Until the FDA approves it, the only way to have this operation in the United
States is by getting into a clinical trial. But be warned: It isnât cheap.
How much does it cost in the States?
"I believe it costs something from $28,000 to $32,000 U.S. dollars," says
Bose.
And in India, Sedlmayr says it costs $5,800: "Private nurse after surgery.
And, feeling always that they were just totally attentive. If you rang the
bell next to your bed, whoop, somebody was there immediately."
Sound too good to be true? Don't forget: Itâs at least a 20-hour trip, there
is malaria in parts of India, patients have complained of intestinal
disorders -- and if something goes wrong, you could end up suing for
malpractice in
an Indian court.
And one could only wish you the best of luck. But Sedlmayr feels sheâs
already had more luck than she had any right to expect. By the time 60 Minutes
left India, she was into the tourism part of her treatment, convalescing at a
seaside resort an hourâs drive from the hospital.
"Is this standard, that when somebody gets surgery at the hospital to come
to a resort like this afterwards?" asks Simon.
"Yeah, they suggest it. They recommend it," says Sedlmayr. "[It cost] $140
day for myself and my daughter, including an enormous fabulous breakfast that
they serve until 10:30."
"I think a lot of people seeing you sitting here and what's usually called
post op, and hearing your tales of what the operation was like, are going to
start thinking about India," says Simon.
"Yeah, and combining surgery and paradise," says Sedlmayr.
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