Hospitals in India are turning in Horror Dens as the Free Market Economy has Eliminated the Welfare State and the state has NO Responsibilty for the Health Care service. It is best defined by the attitude of the health Minister of Bengal, perhaps the Best Brahaminical Political Icon Mamata Bannerjee!
Taking the crib death toll to eleven in Malda, another baby died on Friday at the Malda Sadar Hospital here, officials said. Seven babies had died on Wednesday while three had passed away yesterday in the same hospital attached to the Malda Medical College. Dr Debasish Bhattacharya, principal of the medical college, said the baby was brought to them in a critical condition with bronchopneumonia. In other cases, the babies were born premature and underweight in some rural hospitals from where they were referred. The babies were from the villages of Malda, Jharkhand and Bangladesh, officials said.
Over 55,000 women die due to child birth in India every year. Of the total children born in one year, a mind boggling 13 lakh die before they reach their first birthdays, most of them within a few weeks of entering this world. Another indicator that the world watches is how many children cannot survive beyond five years of age. In India every year, over 16 lakh under-5 years children die.These are hair-raising numbers, the highest in the world, mainly because India has the highest number of births in the world - over 2.62 crore per year. But how can one compare this with other countries with lower population or lower birth rates? That is done by expressing mother's deaths in terms of how many per 1 lakh live births. For India this maternal mortality rate works out to 212. And for infant deaths the ratio is written as so many per 1000 live births. For India this works out to 50. Under-5 mortality in India is 63. Growing number of farmers suicides in West Bengal is quite Alarming. By now there are reports of twenty four farmers having committed suicide. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seem to be too busy to replicate Marxist ways of Goverenance, Regimented party Rule,Development at the cost of Mulnivasi Bahujan, Indiscriminate Urbanising and Industrialisation. she strongly banks on PPP Model and doing evrything possible to promote Foreign capital inflow. Mamata denies the Facts of Farmers committing suicide and quite inhuman is the stance she has taken on the alarming number of Child Death!Mulnivasi Bahujan have to learn a lesson that the Brahaminical system continues with so called Political change, Poribartan in Bengal`s case, but it Never does change the Inhuman circumstances of segregation, Exclusion and Ethnic Cleansing!
The West Bengal government has ordered a probe into the death of a woman who was forced to give birth on a pavement in Kolkata after being denied admission by two top hospitals, Chittaranjan Sevasadan and Shambhunath Pandit Hospital. Usha Tanti and her husband shuffled in vain between the hospitals despite her having a health card. Barely a day old twins have seen how the apathy of the government hospitals can change their lives. The hospital authorities though have denied all the charges after an internal enquiry report. At least 19 babies have died in the past three days in a state-run hospital in India's West Bengal state. Angry parents have accused the Maldah Medical College Hospital authorities of negligence.BBC reports. A team of experts which visited the hospital to find out the cause of the deaths was surrounded by protesters. State health officials said most of the dead infants were underweight and malnourished and several of them were critically ill.
In November, more than 25 children died in the same hospital over a six-day periods. There were 12 similar "crib deaths" in October and 25 deaths in June at another hospital in the state, Calcutta's BC Roy Hospital. In Maldah, officials said at least three of the children had died since Thursday. "One baby died in the sick neonatal care unit and the rest in the neonatal care unit," Debasis Bhattacharya, principal of Malda Medical College, said. Health officials say on an average four to five children die every day in government hospitals in West Bengal. They say the mortality rate is so high because many are late admissions brought from distant areas. A senior health official said most infants are referred to bigger hospitals without being given proper medical attention at district and local hospitals.
"The government wants to set up sick newborn care units in district and local hospitals. But it is not possible to build such infrastructure overnight," senior health official Susanta Banerjee told reporters in Calcutta, the state capital. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who heads the health ministry, appointed a junior health minister a couple of days ago to oversee this initiative. She also accused the media of blowing "crib deaths" out of proportion. Addressing a party rally, Ms Banerjee said: "Infant mortality needs to be looked at very seriously. We are trying to improve the health infrastructure which was left in a shambles by the former Communist government."
This reflects not only on the policies of the Central Government which have resulted in the agrarian crisis but also a gross failure on the part of the West Bengal government to put in place a procurement machinery to purchase crops from the farmers. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in Kolkata from January 17 to 20, 2012. It has issued the following statement:
Lokpal Bill
The Central Committee condemned the UPA government for its failure to bring an effective Lokpal Bill and get it adopted in parliament. Even the weak legislation was not adopted in the Rajya Sabha because the government feared that some amendments moved by the opposition would be carried. The Central Committee demanded that the government bring the Lokpal legislation with suitable amendments in the next session of parliament.
FDI In Retail
The Central Committee opposed the decision of the government to increase FDI in single brand retail to 100 per cent. This is a prelude to bringing in the FDI in multi-brand retail which has already met with widespread opposition. The Central Committee decided to conduct a sustained campaign among the people to stop the entry of FDI in general retail trade.
West Bengal
The Central Committee expressed its serious concern at the growing number of farmers suicides in West Bengal. By now there are reports of twenty four farmers having committed suicide. This reflects not only on the policies of the Central Government which have resulted in the agrarian crisis but also a gross failure on the part of the West Bengal government to put in place a procurement machinery to purchase crops from the farmers. The procurement machinery set by the Left Front government has been dismantled. The TMC led government has failed to curb black-marketting of fertilizers.
People are suffering under the misrule of the TMC-led government. There have been nine starvation deaths of a closed tea garden. This is due to the callous attitude of the government which discontinued the scheme of giving Rs. 1500 per month introduced by the Left Front government for workers of closed factories and tea gardens. The performance of MNREGS has become the worst. The public distribution system, the Annapoorna and Aantayodaya schemes have become irregular. The panchayat bodies which used to implement many of these schemes have become virtually defunct. All this is causing distress and suffering for the people.
The TMC-led government is exhibiting an extremely intolerant attitude to any criticism made about its performance. The general attack on democratic rights continues. So far fifty five persons who are workers or supporters of the CPI(M) and the Left Front have been killed since the assembly election results. The CPI(M) calls for an immediate halt to such attacks and the full restoration of democratic rights.
February 28 Strike
The Central Committee extended its full support to the call of the central trade unions for a one-day general strike on February 28, 2012. This united action by all the trade unions has raised demands, which are not only in the interests of the working class but concern the people of the country as a whole. The Central Committee directed all its Party units to work wholeheartedly to make the strike a total success.
Draft Political Resolution
The Central Committee adopted the draft Political Resolution to be placed before the 20th Congress of the Party to be held in April 2012 at Kozhikkode. The Political Resolution has called for fighting the neo-liberal policies of the UPA government and mobilizing various sections of the working people who are affected by these policies adversely. This is a central task. The Resolution calls for continuing the struggle to isolate the communal forces and to thwart the designs of the Hindutva brigade. The Party will work to defeat the Congress and the BJP. The Resolution calls for paying the utmost priority to developing the independent role of the Party and to strengthen the Party as an all India force. The Party will work to build the Left and democratic alternative against the existing order. It will seek the cooperation of other non-Congress, secular and democratic forces to take up people's issues, defend secularism, national sovereignty and the federal principle.
Draft Ideological Resolution
The Central Committee discussed and adopted the draft `Resolution on Some Ideological Issues'. This Resolution addresses the current and prolonged crisis of global capitalism and its impact on both the developed capitalist countries and the developing countries. It takes stock of the moves of imperialism and international finance capital and the ideologicalconstructs that they use to maintain their dominance. The Resolution deals with the growing resistance to imperialist globalization and the ideological tasks to be undertaken to ensure an effective and united resistance by the working class and other allied forces worldwide. The Resolution discusses the developments in the socialist countries and the necessity to build a renewed socialist alternative which is relevant to the 21st century. The Resolution also pinpoints the ideological challenges faced by the Communists in Indian society and puts forth an alternative ideological worldview which can counter the bourgeois, feudal and other retrograde ideologies.
Just see this report:
Only a quarter of the population can afford Western medicine, with the rest relying on traditional remedies or alternative treatments, such as acupuncture and Ayurvedic medicine (which can at least boast fewer adverse reactions). Eighty-one per cent of health care across India is paid from private funds, mainly individual pockets. To compound the problem, the booming economy has attracted millions into the cities and away from the country's rural network of hospitals. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in 2009 lower-income groups in India had less access to health care than 15 Asian countries surveyed, where, on average, only 55 per cent of health care is paid from private funds. Infants at risk India has come under criticism for not doing more to tackle the problem of infant deaths, the chief marker of the efficacy of a country's health care system.
Unicef, the children's charity, pointed out that of all deaths of children aged under one across the globe in 2008, a quarter occurred in India. At 47 deaths per 1,000 live births, on the latest figures, infant mortality is 10 times that in the UK. However, only three years ago, the toll was 57 deaths per 1,000 live births. So progress is being made. It's not as if funds are tight. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Indian health care has grown recently at a compound annual rate of 16 per cent. The accountants put the total value of the sector in 2009 at $34 billion. This translates as $34 per head, or roughly 6 per cent of GDP. The estimate for the current value of India's health care sector is thought to be $40 billion. For comparison, the annual budget enjoyed by the NHS is £110 billion (taking some 9 per cent of GDP) and serving a very small population relative to India. Outstripping China There is no questioning the need for a hugely expanded health care sector. By 2050, India's population is projected to hit 1.6 billion, overtaking China as the world's most populous nation.
The growth projection is not just based on fertility in India's population. Life expectancy is fast moving to Western levels. Government drives against hepatitis and polio in the young will give another twist to the population spiral. The number of inhabitants aged 60-plus is estimated to reach 189 million by 2025 – three times the 2004 total. Alongside the population spurt, India's economy can be expected to grow by at least 5 per cent a year for the next 40 years, according toGoldman Sachs, the bank. Factors behind the forecast include urbanisation, an expanding middle class, and a rapid increase in the number of well-educated women entering the labour market. But India has much to do. A quarter of the population is below the national poverty line. Some 300 million live on less than $1 a day. What's the government doing? A drive to increase rural health care provision began in 2005. The rural health mission is aimed at improving primary care in the countryside so that fewer patients overwhelm specialist services in the cities. To that end, general practitioners have been trained in basic surgery. Another Indian initiative is the government-run health insurance plan. The Government Insurance Company has the greatest slice of a market that in total attracts only some 11 per cent of the population. Premiums exceed $120 a year. Policyholders do not benefit from direct settlement, as in many Western schemes. Instead, customers pay from their pocket and apply for reimbursement. That can take months.
Health tourism
If the medical tourist wants to go "cheap", few countries beat India. Reports from various sources point to huge price differences: Heart surgery is typically priced at $50,000 in America, $14,200 in Thailand and $4,000 in India. For liver transplants, it's $500,00 (America), $75,000 (Thailand) and $45,000 in India. For bone marrow transplants, prices are closer – $62,500 in both America and Thailand. In India, the bill is roughly halved.
Clearly, with some of the treatment costs a fraction of the American rates, flights and a week or two staying in a top hotel are minor factors. India has quickly developed a lively trade, despite the known hazards of medical tourism – variable infectious-disease rates, different medical-accreditation standards for staff, and exposure to organisms against which the patient has no built-in resistance. This last point is a particular hazard for people in fragile health. Dysentery and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya fever are widespread and could derail recovery. Long flights in cramped airliners are a known risk for circulatory problems. Most of the possible risks do not apply to established expats, who have a range of Western-level hospitals to pick from. Staff speak English, have the most modern equipment and direct links with Western hospital chains.
One such, Wockhardt Hospitals Group, is partnered by Harvard Medical International. Hospitals in this group, based in Mumbai and Bangalore, are among the best. The 400-bed Bangalore unit specialises in cardiology, orthopaedics, neurosciences and women/child care. Wockhardt Mumbai claims very high diagnostic facilities among the usual range of services, including orthopaedics. It advertises total hip replacement at $6,500 (compared with about £12,000 in a private hospital in UK). A total knee replacement also costs $6,500. Dr Sneh Khemka, medical director of Bupa International, knows the country well. "There are medical centres in the cities that really are truly excellent, especially Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi." Other cities with top-class hospitals include Hyderabad and Bangalore. But there are not enough new facilities outside the urban centres.
One exception is the Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, a public-private partnership, opened in 2000. It involved the Apollo Hospitals Group and the government of Karnataka, with support from the Opec fund for international development. Dr Khemka said: "The tier-one cities are world class, with international patient clientele, and the tier-two – the Hyderabads and so on – are certainly able to cope with their metropolitan communities. But clinics and hospitals are still underinvested by government and are a massive problem. "Sometimes the uninformed perception is that India is a dirty place and there is a higher rate of infection. But if you look at outcome data – and we've done quite a few inspections of hospitals in India – you'll see they have much better outcome records than many places in Western Europe. They have meticulous attention on quality and safety." Bupa International has close ties with the Max hospital chain in India. Newly qualified consultant surgeons in such hospitals were about a third more experienced than their European counterparts because they were not hampered by the EU's working time directive, Dr Khemka said. And "hotel" services in leading hospitals were outstanding.
Medical insurance
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office urges Britons going to India to buy holiday or international medical cover. It states: "You should take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling. Check exclusions, and that your policy covers you for all the activities." The FCO adds: "Local medical facilities are not comparable to those in the UK, especially in more remote areas. In major cities private medical care is available, but expensive. For psychiatric illness, specialised treatment may not be available outside major cities. "
International premiums
The insurer Aviva comes out well in a list of insurers recommended by brokers Medical Insurance Services of Brighton. Aviva International Solutions, a comprehensive plan but with reduced outpatient cover, costs £715 a year for a 25 year-old in India (£643 budget). AxaPPP comprehensive with a £100 excess costs £866 for the same person (£670 budget), while Medicare International is £1,203 (£912 budget). For a couple (aged 34 and 31), the Aviva scheme is again cheapest at £1,615 (£1,450 budget). Again, outpatient caps apply – but no two schemes are fully comparable, as with all medical insurance plans.
Hazards
Usual hygiene advice applies strongly. The FCO says: "Take care with your water and food hygiene. Drink or use only boiled or bottled water and avoid ice in drinks. If you suffer from diarrhoea seek immediate medical attention." Bird flu outbreaks have occurred most recently in the north-eastern states of West Bengal and Assam. "As a precaution avoid visiting live animal markets, poultry farms and other places where you may come into close contact with domestic, caged or wild birds," says the FCO. "Ensure poultry and egg dishes are thoroughly cooked." Prevalence of HIV/Aids is greater in India than in the UK: 0.3 per cent of the adult population as opposed to 0.2 per cent in Britain. Patchwork Europeans in rural India are unlikely to find health care to Western standards. But Indian cities are very different. As Bupa's medical director puts it: "If you are going for elective or emergency treatment, it is absolutely fine to go to the centres in the big cities."
Over 55,000 women die due to child birth in India every year. Of the total children born in one year, a mind boggling 13 lakh die before they reach their first birthdays, most of them within a few weeks of entering this world. Another indicator that the world watches is how many children cannot survive beyond five years of age. In India every year, over 16 lakh under-5 years children die.These are hair-raising numbers, the highest in the world, mainly because India has the highest number of births in the world - over 2.62 crore per year. But how can one compare this with other countries with lower population or lower birth rates? That is done by expressing mother's deaths in terms of how many per 1 lakh live births. For India this maternal mortality rate works out to 212. And for infant deaths the ratio is written as so many per 1000 live births. For India this works out to 50. Under-5 mortality in India is 63. Growing number of farmers suicides in West Bengal is quite Alarming. By now there are reports of twenty four farmers having committed suicide. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seem to be too busy to replicate Marxist ways of Goverenance, Regimented party Rule,Development at the cost of Mulnivasi Bahujan, Indiscriminate Urbanising and Industrialisation. she strongly banks on PPP Model and doing evrything possible to promote Foreign capital inflow. Mamata denies the Facts of Farmers committing suicide and quite inhuman is the stance she has taken on the alarming number of Child Death!Mulnivasi Bahujan have to learn a lesson that the Brahaminical system continues with so called Political change, Poribartan in Bengal`s case, but it Never does change the Inhuman circumstances of segregation, Exclusion and Ethnic Cleansing!
The West Bengal government has ordered a probe into the death of a woman who was forced to give birth on a pavement in Kolkata after being denied admission by two top hospitals, Chittaranjan Sevasadan and Shambhunath Pandit Hospital. Usha Tanti and her husband shuffled in vain between the hospitals despite her having a health card. Barely a day old twins have seen how the apathy of the government hospitals can change their lives. The hospital authorities though have denied all the charges after an internal enquiry report. At least 19 babies have died in the past three days in a state-run hospital in India's West Bengal state. Angry parents have accused the Maldah Medical College Hospital authorities of negligence.BBC reports. A team of experts which visited the hospital to find out the cause of the deaths was surrounded by protesters. State health officials said most of the dead infants were underweight and malnourished and several of them were critically ill.
In November, more than 25 children died in the same hospital over a six-day periods. There were 12 similar "crib deaths" in October and 25 deaths in June at another hospital in the state, Calcutta's BC Roy Hospital. In Maldah, officials said at least three of the children had died since Thursday. "One baby died in the sick neonatal care unit and the rest in the neonatal care unit," Debasis Bhattacharya, principal of Malda Medical College, said. Health officials say on an average four to five children die every day in government hospitals in West Bengal. They say the mortality rate is so high because many are late admissions brought from distant areas. A senior health official said most infants are referred to bigger hospitals without being given proper medical attention at district and local hospitals.
"The government wants to set up sick newborn care units in district and local hospitals. But it is not possible to build such infrastructure overnight," senior health official Susanta Banerjee told reporters in Calcutta, the state capital. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who heads the health ministry, appointed a junior health minister a couple of days ago to oversee this initiative. She also accused the media of blowing "crib deaths" out of proportion. Addressing a party rally, Ms Banerjee said: "Infant mortality needs to be looked at very seriously. We are trying to improve the health infrastructure which was left in a shambles by the former Communist government."
This reflects not only on the policies of the Central Government which have resulted in the agrarian crisis but also a gross failure on the part of the West Bengal government to put in place a procurement machinery to purchase crops from the farmers. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in Kolkata from January 17 to 20, 2012. It has issued the following statement:
Lokpal Bill
The Central Committee condemned the UPA government for its failure to bring an effective Lokpal Bill and get it adopted in parliament. Even the weak legislation was not adopted in the Rajya Sabha because the government feared that some amendments moved by the opposition would be carried. The Central Committee demanded that the government bring the Lokpal legislation with suitable amendments in the next session of parliament.
FDI In Retail
The Central Committee opposed the decision of the government to increase FDI in single brand retail to 100 per cent. This is a prelude to bringing in the FDI in multi-brand retail which has already met with widespread opposition. The Central Committee decided to conduct a sustained campaign among the people to stop the entry of FDI in general retail trade.
West Bengal
The Central Committee expressed its serious concern at the growing number of farmers suicides in West Bengal. By now there are reports of twenty four farmers having committed suicide. This reflects not only on the policies of the Central Government which have resulted in the agrarian crisis but also a gross failure on the part of the West Bengal government to put in place a procurement machinery to purchase crops from the farmers. The procurement machinery set by the Left Front government has been dismantled. The TMC led government has failed to curb black-marketting of fertilizers.
People are suffering under the misrule of the TMC-led government. There have been nine starvation deaths of a closed tea garden. This is due to the callous attitude of the government which discontinued the scheme of giving Rs. 1500 per month introduced by the Left Front government for workers of closed factories and tea gardens. The performance of MNREGS has become the worst. The public distribution system, the Annapoorna and Aantayodaya schemes have become irregular. The panchayat bodies which used to implement many of these schemes have become virtually defunct. All this is causing distress and suffering for the people.
The TMC-led government is exhibiting an extremely intolerant attitude to any criticism made about its performance. The general attack on democratic rights continues. So far fifty five persons who are workers or supporters of the CPI(M) and the Left Front have been killed since the assembly election results. The CPI(M) calls for an immediate halt to such attacks and the full restoration of democratic rights.
February 28 Strike
The Central Committee extended its full support to the call of the central trade unions for a one-day general strike on February 28, 2012. This united action by all the trade unions has raised demands, which are not only in the interests of the working class but concern the people of the country as a whole. The Central Committee directed all its Party units to work wholeheartedly to make the strike a total success.
Draft Political Resolution
The Central Committee adopted the draft Political Resolution to be placed before the 20th Congress of the Party to be held in April 2012 at Kozhikkode. The Political Resolution has called for fighting the neo-liberal policies of the UPA government and mobilizing various sections of the working people who are affected by these policies adversely. This is a central task. The Resolution calls for continuing the struggle to isolate the communal forces and to thwart the designs of the Hindutva brigade. The Party will work to defeat the Congress and the BJP. The Resolution calls for paying the utmost priority to developing the independent role of the Party and to strengthen the Party as an all India force. The Party will work to build the Left and democratic alternative against the existing order. It will seek the cooperation of other non-Congress, secular and democratic forces to take up people's issues, defend secularism, national sovereignty and the federal principle.
Draft Ideological Resolution
The Central Committee discussed and adopted the draft `Resolution on Some Ideological Issues'. This Resolution addresses the current and prolonged crisis of global capitalism and its impact on both the developed capitalist countries and the developing countries. It takes stock of the moves of imperialism and international finance capital and the ideologicalconstructs that they use to maintain their dominance. The Resolution deals with the growing resistance to imperialist globalization and the ideological tasks to be undertaken to ensure an effective and united resistance by the working class and other allied forces worldwide. The Resolution discusses the developments in the socialist countries and the necessity to build a renewed socialist alternative which is relevant to the 21st century. The Resolution also pinpoints the ideological challenges faced by the Communists in Indian society and puts forth an alternative ideological worldview which can counter the bourgeois, feudal and other retrograde ideologies.
Just see this report:
Only a quarter of the population can afford Western medicine, with the rest relying on traditional remedies or alternative treatments, such as acupuncture and Ayurvedic medicine (which can at least boast fewer adverse reactions). Eighty-one per cent of health care across India is paid from private funds, mainly individual pockets. To compound the problem, the booming economy has attracted millions into the cities and away from the country's rural network of hospitals. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in 2009 lower-income groups in India had less access to health care than 15 Asian countries surveyed, where, on average, only 55 per cent of health care is paid from private funds. Infants at risk India has come under criticism for not doing more to tackle the problem of infant deaths, the chief marker of the efficacy of a country's health care system.
Unicef, the children's charity, pointed out that of all deaths of children aged under one across the globe in 2008, a quarter occurred in India. At 47 deaths per 1,000 live births, on the latest figures, infant mortality is 10 times that in the UK. However, only three years ago, the toll was 57 deaths per 1,000 live births. So progress is being made. It's not as if funds are tight. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Indian health care has grown recently at a compound annual rate of 16 per cent. The accountants put the total value of the sector in 2009 at $34 billion. This translates as $34 per head, or roughly 6 per cent of GDP. The estimate for the current value of India's health care sector is thought to be $40 billion. For comparison, the annual budget enjoyed by the NHS is £110 billion (taking some 9 per cent of GDP) and serving a very small population relative to India. Outstripping China There is no questioning the need for a hugely expanded health care sector. By 2050, India's population is projected to hit 1.6 billion, overtaking China as the world's most populous nation.
The growth projection is not just based on fertility in India's population. Life expectancy is fast moving to Western levels. Government drives against hepatitis and polio in the young will give another twist to the population spiral. The number of inhabitants aged 60-plus is estimated to reach 189 million by 2025 – three times the 2004 total. Alongside the population spurt, India's economy can be expected to grow by at least 5 per cent a year for the next 40 years, according toGoldman Sachs, the bank. Factors behind the forecast include urbanisation, an expanding middle class, and a rapid increase in the number of well-educated women entering the labour market. But India has much to do. A quarter of the population is below the national poverty line. Some 300 million live on less than $1 a day. What's the government doing? A drive to increase rural health care provision began in 2005. The rural health mission is aimed at improving primary care in the countryside so that fewer patients overwhelm specialist services in the cities. To that end, general practitioners have been trained in basic surgery. Another Indian initiative is the government-run health insurance plan. The Government Insurance Company has the greatest slice of a market that in total attracts only some 11 per cent of the population. Premiums exceed $120 a year. Policyholders do not benefit from direct settlement, as in many Western schemes. Instead, customers pay from their pocket and apply for reimbursement. That can take months.
Health tourism
If the medical tourist wants to go "cheap", few countries beat India. Reports from various sources point to huge price differences: Heart surgery is typically priced at $50,000 in America, $14,200 in Thailand and $4,000 in India. For liver transplants, it's $500,00 (America), $75,000 (Thailand) and $45,000 in India. For bone marrow transplants, prices are closer – $62,500 in both America and Thailand. In India, the bill is roughly halved.
Clearly, with some of the treatment costs a fraction of the American rates, flights and a week or two staying in a top hotel are minor factors. India has quickly developed a lively trade, despite the known hazards of medical tourism – variable infectious-disease rates, different medical-accreditation standards for staff, and exposure to organisms against which the patient has no built-in resistance. This last point is a particular hazard for people in fragile health. Dysentery and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya fever are widespread and could derail recovery. Long flights in cramped airliners are a known risk for circulatory problems. Most of the possible risks do not apply to established expats, who have a range of Western-level hospitals to pick from. Staff speak English, have the most modern equipment and direct links with Western hospital chains.
One such, Wockhardt Hospitals Group, is partnered by Harvard Medical International. Hospitals in this group, based in Mumbai and Bangalore, are among the best. The 400-bed Bangalore unit specialises in cardiology, orthopaedics, neurosciences and women/child care. Wockhardt Mumbai claims very high diagnostic facilities among the usual range of services, including orthopaedics. It advertises total hip replacement at $6,500 (compared with about £12,000 in a private hospital in UK). A total knee replacement also costs $6,500. Dr Sneh Khemka, medical director of Bupa International, knows the country well. "There are medical centres in the cities that really are truly excellent, especially Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi." Other cities with top-class hospitals include Hyderabad and Bangalore. But there are not enough new facilities outside the urban centres.
One exception is the Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, a public-private partnership, opened in 2000. It involved the Apollo Hospitals Group and the government of Karnataka, with support from the Opec fund for international development. Dr Khemka said: "The tier-one cities are world class, with international patient clientele, and the tier-two – the Hyderabads and so on – are certainly able to cope with their metropolitan communities. But clinics and hospitals are still underinvested by government and are a massive problem. "Sometimes the uninformed perception is that India is a dirty place and there is a higher rate of infection. But if you look at outcome data – and we've done quite a few inspections of hospitals in India – you'll see they have much better outcome records than many places in Western Europe. They have meticulous attention on quality and safety." Bupa International has close ties with the Max hospital chain in India. Newly qualified consultant surgeons in such hospitals were about a third more experienced than their European counterparts because they were not hampered by the EU's working time directive, Dr Khemka said. And "hotel" services in leading hospitals were outstanding.
Medical insurance
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office urges Britons going to India to buy holiday or international medical cover. It states: "You should take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling. Check exclusions, and that your policy covers you for all the activities." The FCO adds: "Local medical facilities are not comparable to those in the UK, especially in more remote areas. In major cities private medical care is available, but expensive. For psychiatric illness, specialised treatment may not be available outside major cities. "
International premiums
The insurer Aviva comes out well in a list of insurers recommended by brokers Medical Insurance Services of Brighton. Aviva International Solutions, a comprehensive plan but with reduced outpatient cover, costs £715 a year for a 25 year-old in India (£643 budget). AxaPPP comprehensive with a £100 excess costs £866 for the same person (£670 budget), while Medicare International is £1,203 (£912 budget). For a couple (aged 34 and 31), the Aviva scheme is again cheapest at £1,615 (£1,450 budget). Again, outpatient caps apply – but no two schemes are fully comparable, as with all medical insurance plans.
Hazards
Usual hygiene advice applies strongly. The FCO says: "Take care with your water and food hygiene. Drink or use only boiled or bottled water and avoid ice in drinks. If you suffer from diarrhoea seek immediate medical attention." Bird flu outbreaks have occurred most recently in the north-eastern states of West Bengal and Assam. "As a precaution avoid visiting live animal markets, poultry farms and other places where you may come into close contact with domestic, caged or wild birds," says the FCO. "Ensure poultry and egg dishes are thoroughly cooked." Prevalence of HIV/Aids is greater in India than in the UK: 0.3 per cent of the adult population as opposed to 0.2 per cent in Britain. Patchwork Europeans in rural India are unlikely to find health care to Western standards. But Indian cities are very different. As Bupa's medical director puts it: "If you are going for elective or emergency treatment, it is absolutely fine to go to the centres in the big cities."
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