Medical Tourism in Tamil Nadu
Medical Tourism /Health Tourism in TamilNadu
Medical or health tourism is the new buzzword in countries like India,
Malaysia and Thailand.
The Governments in these countries are aggressively wooing potential patients
from the developed world. Slowly but surely, health care is being outsourced
to the developing world.Cheap medical treatment is readily avilable at all major Indian cities. This is mainly due to the mind-boggling cost
of even a simple surgical procedure in the U.S. The cost of a Health Insurance
Plan in the US is exorbitant. There is big percentage of Americans who
are either not insured or under insured. These are the people who are
boarding planes to the East, seeking cheap but excellent medical care.
In the UK, the crumbling infrastructure in the NHS has made the wait for
even simple procedures, as long as six months. Of late it is the NHS that
is often sending patients to India for surgical intervention in
emergencies, as
it is just not able to cope and deal with the situation.
Many of the corporate employers in the US fund part of the medical expenses
of it employees. Many of them are seriously looking at medical outsourcing
in order to cut costs. The reason is not far off to see!. Cheaper Medical
Care! According to the TIME magazine, while it costs approximately $175000
to undergo a heart bypass in the US, it costs only $10000 in India,$12000
in Thailand and $20000 in Singapore. India has one more advantage other
than being a cheaper destination. English is widely spoken and understood
by almost everybody, especially in the urban areas. Everything is taken
care of by the concerned hospital. Hotel reservations, food, transport
and last but not the least a holiday during the recuperating period.
Tamil Nadu, a state in the southern most tip
of India, is leader in providing medical care, on par with the finest
hospitals in the West, in almost all the medical fields, It has plush
corporate hospitals especially in Chennai, the capital. The State Government
is also aggressively promoting Health Tourism. It is a much more peaceful
state than any other state in North India. It is a leader in India especially
in Eye Care, Oncology, Orthopedics, Dialysis and Kidney Transplant. Today,
practically every road has a good nursing home with attending consultants.
Nursing has evolved as a specialty and Indian Nurses handle patients with
a humane and personal touch that is the main reason why they are so much
in demand in the West.
6 January 2007
The Apollo Centre of Excellence for Women is the first hospital in India
to cater to specific healthcare needs of women from the prenatal to menopausal
and geriatric phase. Sankara Nethralaya has a worldwide reputation for
excellent diagnostic and curative care in ophthalmology.Cochlear implant,
a pioneering field, is being done at Dr Mohan Kameswaran's Madras ENT
Research Foundation. It is equipped with a language and voice
laboratory.
Many state-of-the-art hospitals like Rammachandra, MMM, Frontline, Vijaya
and MIOT provide modern treatment backed by cutting edge medical expertise
in cardiology, minimal invasive procedures, neurology, spine and joint
replacements, cosmetic reconstructive surgery, cancer, reproductive and
paediatric specialties. Super specialties like stem cell transplant ,the
first in India, goes into operation at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College
Hospital in the coming weeks. The cost is, of course rather expensive.
Still, as compared with the global prices, it is still very cheap. Hospitals
like MIOT offer comfortable quarters for the family to stay while the
patient undergoes treatment.
20 July 2007
Apollo Speciality Hospital at Chennai has successfully performed an 'unrelated
cord blood transplant' on a eight-old Ugandan boy suffering from Fanconi
Anaemia. This curative therapy is widely done in the West for patients
suffering from leukamia, thalassaemia and aplastic anaemia.This is the
first time it is being done in the country. The procedure which costs
a million dollars in the U.S. cost just $100000 in India, which is about
one-tenth of the cost of the cost in the U.S.
5
October 2007
Indonesia
is interested in having a tie-up with Tamil Nadu in the area of Medical
Tourism and has requested the Government to organize a medical tourism
fair at Jakarta with participation from the super specialty hospitals of
the state. At present, the high spending medical tourists from
Indonesia visit Singapore for treatment. Singapore is more expensive
than India representatives from Egypt, South Africa, Malaysia and
Singapore have also expressed their desire to have such tie-ups with
Tamil Nadu for mutual tourism promotion.
11
November 2007
A
health city catering to healthcare ,medical education and research is
coming up on a 100-acre property situated on the IT-corridor. The
Chettinad Health City (CHC) promoted by the Rajah Muthiah Chettiar
Charitable Trust will totally cost about Rs 500 crores. The first phase
costing about Rs 250 crores is ready and will be inaugurated by the TN
CM on 15 November.
The
CHC aims to offer the entire gamut of healthcare facilities under one
roof. It will be an integrated centre for clinical and wellness
services ,medical education, research an health Information technology.
it will be a referral hospital offering heart surgery using robot
assisted minimally invasive procedures, renal transport, mother and
child care, assisted fertilisation methods, cardio vascular care
and telemedicine. Research in stem cell therapy and immuno- modulation
will also be carried out here at the health city.
It
will also have other urban facilities like auditoriums, restaurants,
shopping malls, ATMs, gyms, and playgrounds.
22
November 2007
A
health village for medicare and research will come up in Elavur
near Chennai. It will serve as a hub for medicare and medical research
in South Asia. It will be a joint venture between the Frontier Lifeline
Hospitals promoted by Dr K M Cherian and the TN State Governement. The
total project cost is about Rs 450 crores. The village is to named
Frontier Mediville and the entire project will be completed in three
phases. It will have a modern medical science park which will
facilitate research in basic ad applied sciences, a multi-speciality
1000-bed hospital, units of Indian system of medicine and a medical
university. it will be first bio-hospital in the country combining
advanced clinical practices with holistic therapy. Frontier Mediville
will also have biomedical corridor for the manufacture of consumables,
disposables and pharmaceutical products. In short, the hospital will
generate products needed for its smooth running.it will also cater to
the export market.
The
medical university would include a regional centre for nursing and
paramedical training and will be run in collaboration with the Edward
Dunlop Health Foundation, Australia.A herbarium will also be developed
on collaboration with the Korean Research Institute of Bioscience and
Biotechnology and the Asia pacific Bio-Resources Consortium. It will
grow medicinal plants and develop genetically engineered strains from
which molecules would be extracted for therapeutic treatment. It will
also serve as a holistic healing centre for medical tourists.
The
village will also have a helipad, a railway station and a bus terminus.
Elavur is located off the NH 5.
4
January 2008
Chennai's Jeevan Blood Bank will soon start a stem cell bank. Jeevan has
been running a blood bank for the past 12 years. The bank will start
functioning from March 2008.It will collect cord blood from willing
donors, harvest stem cells, test for diseases and infections, store and
distribute for stem cell transplant. Stem cells can cure a variety of
diseases including thalassemia, and blood cancer.
The bank will store around 40000 units of stem cells collected from
umbilical cord blood for five years. While 70% of the capacity is for
public storage,30% will be for private use, for which a small fee will
be collected. The bank proposes to co-ordinate closely with
international agencies and will create a donor database by December
2008.
