Outsourcing Health Care to India

Although this is just a case of a couple of hundred thousand patients coming to India – but this trickle can become a deluge if the current state of health benefits and state of this sector continues in the US and West!

Dr Ehandapany Raghavan, vice president of Siemens Medical, said sheer necessity would force the West to subcontract its care to India.

“General Motors spends $6 billion a year on health care, it’s killing the company,” he said. “These firms are going to have to turn to India because but there’s no other choice,” he told the newspaper.

US hospitals already use Indian doctors for night emergencies, sending data from X-rays and scans electronically for instant analysis. 63-year-old Dan Robertson found his way to Jaslok Hospital from Arizona after researching hip ailments on the Internet.

Crippled with pain and shortage of money, the estate agent boarded a plane and travelled to a country he knew little about for a double hip replacement. A month later he seemed ecstatic as he hobbled across his airy room with a sun set view.

“People come here from all over the world for hip ailments, so I was quite comfortable with the idea,” Robertson said. “It cost me a fraction of what it would in the US, even with airfares for my sister and everything.”

According to Taj Medical Group, a knee operation that might cost £10,000 in the UK can be obtained in India for £4,900, including travel and accommodation.

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